Lithuania will open a gas exchange in 2011 which will operate under the same principle as the power exchange which has been operating for a year, the operator of the power exchange, Baltpool, said.

Baltpool officials admit that with Lithuania fully dependent on Russian gas, competition on the market will not increase. However, they said that despite Russia retaining a monopoly on sales to Lithuania, the exchange could sell surplus gas which was purchased but not used, REGNUM reports.

In the future, Baltpool executives said, if Lithuania links its gas transport system to Poland's, and a LNG terminal is built in Klaipeda, the exchange will become more active and serve as an instrument to increase competition.