Petroleum industry in Lithuania



The petroleum industry in Lithuania was on decline since 2001. In 2021 country produced 34.1 thousands tonnes of oil, the lowest since 1991. According to Geology Office of Lithuania, at the begging of 2021 country had 2.49 million tonnes of proven oil resources in onshore sources and 81 million tonnes offshore in the Baltic Sea.

The poor oil resources in Lithuania, in comparison to oil-bearing regions, are related to unfavourable geological conditions for collecting oils, predominantly low organic matter content in the oil source rocks and the small structures, low oil saturation and difficulties in detecting new oil sources due depth of oil formation.

History
The initiative to discover oil resources in Lithuania started in 1958. First proven source of oil discovered near Kybartai town. In 1964 the government funded company established to discover potential oil sources within Lithuanian territory. Between 1966 and 1969 four big oil sources confirmed in Šiūpariai, Plungė, Pietų Šiūpariai and Vilkyčiai.

The actual production of oil in Lithuania started in 1990, during energy resource blockade imposed on Lithuania by Soviet Union.

In 2001 Lithuania produced record breaking 471,000 tonnes of raw oil.

Since 2003 oil drilling company Minijos nafta unsuccessfully tried to obtain rights to pump oil in the source near Kintai town. In 2021 Lithuanian Ministry of Environment rejected the application from Minijos nafta due concerns of damage to environment as source located near Curonian Lagoon and create distruptions to develop water sports tourism.

In 2015 oil sources discovered in Raseiniai District Municipality.

In July 2021 Lithuanian Minister of Environment Simonas Gentvilas confirmed that Lithuanian government have no plans to encourage production in any of the new onshore wells and potentially could ban oil pumps development in the country once current wells depletes. At current pumping rate, most of onshore wells are expected to get closed by 2026.

Oil production industry
As of 2023, only onshore oil wells used for production with 14 currently in use and 4 abandoned.

Lithuanian laws do not allow offshore oil extraction. Lithuania made claims that Russia potentially pumping oil that is located in Lithuanian territory via D6 offshore pump in Kaliningrad Oblast.

Locations
All oil fields in Lithuania divided into 10 blocks, administered by the Geology Office of Lithuania, who issues the license for individual companies to develop the infrastructure needed in extracting oil:

Currently Lithuania have 18 onshore wells, all located in western part of the country, mainly Klaipėda District Municipality and Šilutė District Municipality. All oil resources located at least 2km underground:

Onshore oil wells in Lithuania:

Oil refinery
The only oil refinery in the Baltic States located in the city of Mažeikiai and owned by Orlen Lietuva.