Lithuania said Tuesday that it planned to bring Baltic neighbors Latvia and Estonia on board in a liquefied natural gas project, as the region strives to cut its dependence on supplies from Russia.

"We have to build the terminal with our resources but thereafter we will share the terminal with Latvia and Estonia , proportionally to (the respective) consumption of natural gas," Energy Minister Arvydas Sekmokas told reporters.

"Of course, they will have to pay for the Lithuanian investment," he added.

In July, Lithuania 's government approved plans to build an LNG terminal off the Baltic port of Klaipeda by 2012. It tasked state-owned company Klaipedos Nafta with drawing up details of the project.

Sekmokas said the European Commission has backed the idea of a single LNG terminal for all three Baltic states .

But he cautioned that financial support from the European Union - which the Baltic trio joined in 2004 - would only be possible after the bloc's post-2014 budget is in place.

He also said it was premature to discuss the cost of the project.

The three Baltic states have been seeking to reduce Russia 's role in their energy markets, a legacy of their five decades as Soviet republics before the communist bloc collapsed in 1991.

Russian giant Gazprom is Lithuania 's only gas supplier, via a pipeline across Belarus , and the country has been affected by feuds between Moscow and Minsk .

In June, its supplies were cut by more than 40% amid a row between Belarus and Russia over gas payments and transit fees.

Lithuania is also eyeing a separate LNG terminal project with Belarus .

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