Estonia and Finland are looking to jointly charter a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to import LNG, as European countries look to reduce reliance on Russian gas supplies.
According to a statement by Estonia’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications on Thursday, the two countries have agreed to jointly charter one FSRU and build jetties on both sides of the Gulf of Finland.
The jetties would be located in Paldiski in Estonia and Inkoo in Finland.
Estonia and Finland plan to welcome the FSRU by this fall at one of the jetties which would be ready to receive the unit by then, the statement said.
Having suitable mooring on both sides of the Gulf of Finland would increase the supply security of both Estonia and Finland and add necessary flexibility, the statement said.
In the best-case scenario, Estonia expects to pay about 10 million euros ($10.9 million) per year to rent the floating LNG terminal, the statement said.
Estonia’s Elering and Finland’s Gasgrid are working on the plan, the statement said, but it did not reveal any information regarding the capacity of the project.
The Baltic and Finnish region gets about half of its supplies via Russian gas deliveries, the statement said. Finland consumes roughly 23 terawatt-hours (TWh) and Estonia 5 TWh of gas per year, it said.
This move follows a plan by the European Union to significantly slash Russian pipeline gas supplies this year by boosting imports of LNG, filling up gas storages, and increasing renewables.
The EU imported 155 bcm of gas from Russia last year, including LNG.
Several European countries including the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy, have already secured FSRUs or are planning to install them in the future.