Sunday, March 26, 2023
 
 

Finland-Estonia gas pipe to diversify EU supplies away from Russia

BalticConnector to end Finland's gas isolation

- Advertisement -

HELSINKI – The BalticConnector, a EU-backed gas transmission project between Estonia and Finland, will become operational from the beginning of 2020, boosting EU energy security, Herkko Plit, President and CEO at Baltic Connector Oy, told New Europe in Helsinki on October 12.

“Balticconnector (BC) will become operational from the beginning of 2020 onwards,” Plit said. “So far, no capacity bookings have yet been done. In general, the gas will be purchased from where it will be the cheapest. Finnish gas market will be opened in the beginning of 2020, i.e. once BC is in operation,” he added.

Comprising offshore and onshore pipelines and two compressor stations in both Estonia and Finland, the BalticConnector will diversify gas supplies away from Russia. “With BC, there is possibility to diversify the gas sources. At the moment Finland is 100% dependent on Russian gas. BC is one the key EU gas infrastructure projects, thus having also 75% EU funding. Creating the internal EU gas market the important issue and through this also the EU energy security gets improved,” Plit said.

During a trip to Finland for the second Energy Union Tour on October 12-13, European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič discussed the BalticConnector, noting ahead of his visit that it would “end Finland’s gas isolation and lead to a more competitive wholesale and retail gas, in addition to enhancing the region’s security of supply”.

Jorma Aurela, chief engineer at the Energy Department of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, told New Europe in Helsinki on October 10 that in the past all the gas imports to Finland have come from Russia. “Gas has come from Russia but this will change. We will have a gas connection to EU – this new gas pipeline – the BalticConnector. This is now a real connector,” he said, reminding that improvements in the connections of the gas transmission systems between Poland and the Baltic States and the Balticconnector project will enable the integration of the Finnish and Baltic systems with the EU’s common gas market.

“It’s a very interesting move because it has not been talked a lot in the Finnish policy but it will be true in 2020 and it’s not going to be very costly. So there, we will not have the monopoly of Russians. But still oil and coal is mostly imported from Russia and part of the electricity,” Aurela said.

The chief engineer from the Finnish ministry said the BalticConnector “is energy security of EU and, of course, Finland but also the Baltic countries because they have had market problems with the Russians. Finland somehow never had a problem with Russian gas”.

Aurela said liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Lithuanian port of Klaipėda could feed into the Baltic Connector. “But it can come also from Central Europe from this connector from Poland,” he said.

Aurela reminded that the BalticConnector would not be possible without considerable support from the EU. The total cost of the project is €250 million. In 2016, the European Commission (CEF) granted funding of €187.5 million to the project. “It was very nice and even Mr. (Jean-Claude) Juncker came to place,” Aurela said.

He noted that some natural gas is used for electricity. “It is used in combined production. But it used to be more in the past than today. I remember when we used more than 7 billion cubic metres of gas. Now it’s much less – something like 4.5 billion cubic metres,” he said. “Gas in the old days and today is coming only from Russia,” he said.

Asked if the gas from the BalticConnector will be used for electricity, Aurela said: “It’s up to the clients. It’s not used so much. It’s too expensive to be used in electricity production so it is used in the industry more or less”.

follow on twitter @energyinsider

 

- Advertisement -

Subscribe to our newsletter

Co-founder / Director of Energy & Climate Policy and Security at NE Global Media

Latest

Africa’s porous borders promote transnational crimes rather than deeper integration

For positive continental regimes to succeed, there must be both conscious and concerted efforts, as well as political will, from all states to help eliminate transnational crimes while fostering integration across the whole of Africa through trade.

Kazakhstan’s new parliament could usher in green energy, rare earth investments

Kazakhstan held internationally monitored elections for the Mazhilis, the...

EU-Turkey earthquake relief conference: Time to get serious

The European Union is hosting a reconstruction conference in...

Cambodia’s current government is the face of tropical Fascism

There is no hope that the authoritarianism that the world sees in places like Russia, China and Cambodia can ever be interpreted as a peaceful and benign phenomenon, or that it should be accepted by an implicit racist or discriminatory assumption that some cultures just don’t have a democratic tradition and aren’t quite capable of ever developing one.

Don't miss

Africa’s porous borders promote transnational crimes rather than deeper integration

For positive continental regimes to succeed, there must be both conscious and concerted efforts, as well as political will, from all states to help eliminate transnational crimes while fostering integration across the whole of Africa through trade.

Kazakhstan’s new parliament could usher in green energy, rare earth investments

Kazakhstan held internationally monitored elections for the Mazhilis, the...

EU-Turkey earthquake relief conference: Time to get serious

The European Union is hosting a reconstruction conference in...

Cambodia’s current government is the face of tropical Fascism

There is no hope that the authoritarianism that the world sees in places like Russia, China and Cambodia can ever be interpreted as a peaceful and benign phenomenon, or that it should be accepted by an implicit racist or discriminatory assumption that some cultures just don’t have a democratic tradition and aren’t quite capable of ever developing one.

Energy supply diversification out of Russia’s orbit is a top priority for Bulgaria

Bulgaria intends to diversify its energy resources, including supplying...

Kazakhstan’s new parliament could usher in green energy, rare earth investments

Kazakhstan held internationally monitored elections for the Mazhilis, the lower chamber of the Kazakh Parliament, on March 19, following major constitutional reforms, which most...

Energy supply diversification out of Russia’s orbit is a top priority for Bulgaria

Bulgaria intends to diversify its energy resources, including supplying the country’s main refinery in Burgas - the largest in the Balkans - with non-Russian...

Georgia has shown the world that a Kremlin project can be defeated

Over the past few days, the world’s attention was on Georgia. We saw massive protests fueled by anger, concerns and fear, and eventually, we...

Putin’s New START withdrawal has broad implications

Vladimir Putin continues to persuade Russians that the West provoked his imperialist war of aggression against Ukraine. His announcement that he would no longer...

Energy-strapped Germany sets ambitious 30 GW offshore wind target by 2030

Germany, which has been struggling to fill its massive energy gap following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and reduction of natural gas deliveries, is planning...

Providing Ukraine with advanced Western fighters is a logical step towards battlefield success

While Ukraine may have weathered the storm of Russia’s initial onslaught and retaliated with a force and determination largely thought to have been beyond...

Georgia, Romania mull Black Sea undersea power cable to supply CEE Europe

Georgia, which is a transit country for oil and gas routes, is spearheading efforts to launch a very ambitious project that would create a corridor for green energy from the Caspian to the Balkans and CEE.

A Belarusian politician, fraudster and businessman kept money in Credit Suisse

It was the last summer day of 2008. An Audi was waiting in line to leave Belarus for Poland. Petr Kalugin, a House of Representatives deputy,...