Officially, the decision unveiled on Friday May 20 has nothing to do with Finland’s application to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), filed two days earlier in Brussels. It is difficult, however, to see a coincidence in this: from 7 a.m. on Saturday May 21, deliveries of Russian gas to Finland ceased, just one week after Russia stopped exporting electricity to his neighbour. The Russian group Gazprom justifies its decision by the refusal of its Finnish client, Gasum, to pay for its imports in roubles. The electricity supplier RAO Nordic, a subsidiary of the Russian company Inter RAO, had for its part mentioned payment problems.
For Helsinki, this is not a surprise: “We have prepared carefully for this situation and, provided there are no disruptions to the gas transmission network, we will be able to supply all of our customers with gas in the coming months”assured Mika Wiljanen, CEO of Gasum.
While natural gas represents only 5% of the energy consumed in Finland, 92% of it comes from Russia. During the summer, the needs should be easily covered thanks to the Balticconnector pipeline, between Finland and Estonia, connected to the underground storage site of Incukalns, in Latvia. But “the winter period will be more difficult, because the transport capacity of the pipeline will not be enough to cover all the needs”estimated Olga Vaisanen, spokesperson for Gasum, on the Yle channel.
Huge stocks of raw materials
Hence the importance of the contract, signed by the Finnish Gasgrid with the American Excelerate Energy, Friday, in Helsinki, just when Gazprom announced to cut the tap. It provides for the lease, for ten years, of a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, which will ” to permit [à la Finlande] to get rid of Russian gas”, according to the Minister of Finance, Annika Saarikko. Helsinki hopes to be able to accommodate the huge 291 by 43 meter ship in one of its ports in the fourth quarter.
If the work is not completed in time, it could be stationed in Estonia. Discussions are indeed underway between the operators Gasgrid and Elering, the Estonian, to jointly manage the terminal, the rental cost of which is estimated at 460 million euros for ten years. Vessel Exemplary can accommodate up to 68,000 tons of LNG, which corresponds to approximately 1,050 gigawatt hours of energy. It will be refueled two to three times a month and should “easily cover the combined gas consumption of Finland and Estonia, with a lot of surpluses”assured Steven Kobos, the boss of Excelerate Energy.
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