Finland will get a floating LNG terminal to replace Russian gas
HELSINKI — Finland’s first floating liquefied natural gas terminal was anchored on Wednesday in the southern port of Inkoo, from where it supplies gas from Russian gas imports to the Nordic countries, which were cut off in the middle of a year’s war earlier this year. Ukraine.
The massive 291 meter long and 43 meter wide offshore support vessel Exemplar, which sailed to the Baltic Sea from Gibraltar and Spain at the beginning of December, it has a capacity of 68,000 tons of LNG and is scheduled to be operational from the beginning of 2023.
The FSRU Exemplar, owned by Excelerate Energy Inc. of the United States, will ensure the future availability of gas in Finland and will replace supplies previously imported from Russia, the state-owned Gasgrid Finland described the change as historic.
“Finland will permanently give up its dependence on Russian gas and significantly improve society’s security of supply,” said Gasgrid Finland CEO Olli Sipilä. “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 Finnish company tweeted the photo and said the Exemplar was “safely anchored” in the port of Inkoo, located about 60 kilometers west of the capital Helsinki.
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.
Russian energy giant Gazprom suspended gas exports to neighboring Finland in May, citing Helsinki’s refusal to pay in rubles, as Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded of European countries after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Gazprom’s transfer marked the probable end of Finland’s nearly 50-year long import of natural gas from Russia. Two parallel natural gas pipelines between Russia and Finland were commissioned in 1974.
The share of natural gas in Finland’s total energy consumption of 5.5 million inhabitants is currently only about 5%. Until May, almost all gas came from Russia, and it has been used mainly by Finnish industrial and other companies, of which only an estimated 4,000 households rely on gas heating.
When Moscow has stopped exporting electricity to Finland – also in May – and the Finnish state-controlled oil company Neste has replaced Russian crude oil imports with other sources, Finland’s energy relations with Russia are now completely gone.
Gasgrid Finland has leased Exemplar for ten years at an estimated total cost of 460 million euros (490 million dollars) in accordance with the agreement signed with the supplier of American floating LNG terminals.
“The arrival of the FSRU Exemplar in the port of Inkoo is an important milestone for Finland as it prepares to improve its energy security and bring essential energy infrastructure to the region,” Excelerate Energy CEO Steven Kobos said in a statement. . “This is a huge achievement for everyone involved and we are proud to be working with Gasgrid on this occasion.”
European Union member Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border with Russia, applied to join NATO in May and is currently waiting for two other members of the military alliance — Hungary and Turkey — to ratify their membership.