Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his European counterparts on providing possible alternative oil and gas supply to the Baltic states.

Grant Shapps

I have not had bilateral discussions with European counterparts on providing possible alternative oil and gas supply to the Baltic states. The UK’s support to the Baltic states on diversification of their oil and gas supply takes place largely through the European Union. The UK continues to work closely with Brussels in pursuit of security of supply, and our efforts to improve EU energy security are carried out through the Energy Union Project. The UK appreciates the pressures that the Baltic states are under, and ending their island status in gas and oil is a key area of our work on gas supplies within the Energy Union. On the 15 October 2015, the European Commission signed a joint-declaration with the Baltic States on constructing the Gas Interconnector Poland – Lithuania (GIPL), aimed at providing a secure gas supply for the Baltic region and reducing reliance on Russian gas. Construction is intended to be completed in 2019.