Finland opens a floating liquefied natural gas terminal to replace Russia
Like many European countries, Finland is looking for liquefied natural gas (LNG) to replace the gas it previously received from Russia, which was mainly transported in pipelines.
The first floating liquefied natural gas terminal in the Nordic countries was anchored in the southern port of Inkoo on Wednesday.
The massive 291-meter-long and 43-meter-wide offshore support vessel Exemplar, which sailed from Gibraltar to the Baltic Sea earlier in December, has a capacity of 68,000 tons of LNG. It is supposed to be in use from next year.
The FSRU Exemplar, owned by Excelerate Energy Inc. of the United States, will ensure the availability of gas in Finland in the future. It replaces supplies previously imported from Russia, state-owned Gasgrid Finland said, calling the change “historic”.
“Finland will permanently give up its dependence on Russian gas and significantly improve society’s security of supply,” Gasgrid Finland CEO Olli Sipilä said.
“The goal is for the terminal’s customers to start distributing gas to the needs of Finnish industry, energy production and households from mid-January 2023.”
The ship converts the LNG back into gas, which is then fed into the Finnish grid for distribution. The arrival of Exemplar also enables gas deliveries to the Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania – and possibly also to Poland via the undersea Balticconnector pipeline between Finland and Estonia, which runs near Inko.
Watch more of Euronews’ report in the video above.