Estonian gas system operator Elering AS’s contractor, Connecto AS, has begun building the pipeline that will connect the planned floating five billion cubic metre per year Paldiski LNG terminal in Estonia to the regional Balticconnector natural gas network.
The Estonian end of the Balticconnector gas pipeline in Paldiski. Credit: Siim Lõvi, Eesti Rahvusringhääling
Estonian gas system operator Elering AS’s contractor, Connecto AS, has begun building the pipeline that will connect the planned floating five billion cubic metre per year Paldiski LNG terminal in Estonia to the regional Balticconnector natural gas network. Construction is divided into four major components:
- Pipeline from landfall to the onshore compressor station
- Subsea pipeline from the coast to the floating storage and regasification unit’s (FSRU) mooring quay
- Equipment on the mooring quay
- Connection between the quay and the FSRU
The pipeline’s route has been marked and site preparation is underway. Directional drilling between the terminal’s compression and the coast is expected to begin in July. Elering has already acquired the project’s line pipe and stopcocks. Total length of the pipe between the compressor station and mooring quay is 1.2 km.
Estonia’s use of the FSRU is a temporary measure until a permanent terminal site can be built in Finland. In may 2022, Elering and Gasgrid Finland signed a cooperation agreement for the joint lease and management of the FSRU to ensure the security of gas supply to the two countries and to end the need for Russian pipeline gas consumption.
According to the cooperation agreement between Elering and Gasgrid, the parties each will develop the necessary infrastructure for the terminal and bear the related. But the FSRU rental costs are going to covered jointly in proportion with the Estonian and Finnish gas consumption, 20% and 80% respectively.
The FSRU will arrive in Estonia by end-2022 and remain there until work at the Finnish site is completed. Once the FSRU is stationed in Finland, Estonia will have two potential gas supply directions: the Balticconnector and the FSRU in the north, and the Latvian underground gas storage, the 3.7 billion cubic metres per year Klaipeda LNG terminal and Polish-Lithuanian gas connector in the south.
