Oil production falls to lowest level in 26 years

Oil production in Lithuania plunged to the lowest level since 1992 last year, and the production peak was recorded in 2001, a representative for the Lithuanian Geological Survey said, adding that dropping oil production is a natural process.

"It's a consistent tendency (…). Deposits were discovered long time ago, with many of them discovered during the Soviet times (…). Oil is not a renewable resource," Jurga Lazauskiene told BNS Lithuania.

In her words, five new deposits were discovered in post-independence Lithuania, with three of them no longer in use.

"If new tenders are called and exploration work continues in the country's territory, so new deposits could be discovered in Lithuania," she said.

Oil production in western Lithuania has been going down with every year. 55,800 cubic meters of oil was produced last year, down 18 percent from 67,800 in 2017. In comparison, 77,400 cubic meters were produced in 2016 and almost 600,000 cubic meters were produced in 2001.

Oil was produced from 14 deposits in Lithuania last year, with eight companies, including Lotos-Geonafta, Minijos Nafta, Manifoldas, Genciu Nafta, LL Investicijos, TanOil, Troba and Diseta, having permits to extract oil. But in reality only five of them extracted oil.

One exploration oil well was drilled in Lithuania last year.

Oil is produced only from land deposits. Around 5.386 million cubic meters of oil were produced in 1990-2018.