Eesti Gas, a unit of Estonian investment firm Infortar, said it will bring an additional US LNG cargo to Finland’s Inkoo FSRU-based terminal in the second half of November to cover Finland’s gas consumption.
These LNG supplies will help cover gas needs in Finland during the winter season while the Balticconnector offshore gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia is shut shown due to a leak.
Eesti Gas, which is branded internationally as Elenger, is the biggest customer of Finland’s LNG facility in the port of Inkoo, operated by Gasgrid.
The firm received the first LNG cargo via Excelerate Energy’s 150,900-cbm FSRU Exemplar, which serves Gasgrid’s import facility in Inkoo under a charter deal, in April from the US.
17 LNG shipments
Eesti Gaas previously said it will receive in total 16 shipments of LNG this year.
These also include five shipments to the Klaipeda FSRU in Lithuania and 11 shipments to Inkoo.
With this newest cargo, Eesti Gas will receive 12 shipments via the Inkoo FSRU and a total of 17 shipments this year, three times more compared to five shipments in 2022, it said in a statement.
“Previously, natural gas reached Estonia mainly via a pipeline from Russia but for almost a year and a half this direction has been closed and a full-scale turn to the west has taken place,” the firm said.
Eesti Gaas said the LNG supplies come mostly from the US and Norway.
“The market can handle the situation with the Balticconnector,” Margus Kaasik, chairman of the management board of Eesti Gaas, said.
“Based on the Inkoo terminal, it is possible to cover Finland’s gas consumption – gas and tankers are available in America and Europe, additional cargoes can be ordered quite quickly, and the Inkoo terminal already has past experience operating against the ongoing gas demand,” he said.
Gasgrid offering slots
Gasgrid published on October 20 a revised schedule for winter 2023/2024 spot capacity booking at the Inkoo FSRU to help maintain stable gas supplies.
The firm is offering six slots with a capacity of 800 gigawatt hours between December 2023 and March 2024.
Also, the delivery windows include December 9-10, December 26-27, January 11-12, January 27-28, February 12-13, and February 28-29.