Gasgrid will soon launch commercial operations at Finland’s first FSRU-based LNG import facility in the port of Inkoo.
Excelerate Energy’s 150,900-cbm FSRU Exemplar, which serves Gasgrid’s import facility in Inkoo, started supplying regasified LNG to the grid on December 29 as part of the commissioning phase.
After that, it also received its first LNG tanker, the 174,130-cbm LNG carrier, Isabella, which delivered a cargo from Cheniere’s Sabine Pass LNG terminal in the US.
The floating LNG terminal in the deep harbour at Inkoo, which includes a 2.2-km connecting pipeline, is now fully ready for use and gas deliveries can begin, Gasgrid said in a statement on Monday.
Finnish state-owned natural gas transmission system operator received all the required official permits to start commercial operations.
“This means that the customers of our terminal can begin to distribute gas to meet the needs of industry, energy production and households not just in Finland but also in the Baltic states,” Esa Hallivuori, senior VP, transmission business at Gasgrid, said in the statement.
”Our LNG floating terminal has already generated plenty of interest and enquiries from various parties. We believe that there is a real need for the energy provided by our terminal both now and going forward. The LNG floating terminal can provide a huge amount of energy also for heat and power production when needed,” Hallivuori said.
Commissioning LNG cargo
The FSRU Exemplar, which can supply more than 5 billion cubic meters per year of regasification capacity, will serve Finland and other Baltic states under a 10-year charter deal Gasgrid signed with Excelerate in May last year.
Gasgrid has leased the 291 meters long and 43 meters wide Exemplar for a total cost of 460 million euros ($497 million).
In fall last year, Gasgrid Finland sent an inquiry to various operators about whether they would be interested in booking capacity from the commissioning cargo, a batch of approximately 1 TWh of LNG, it said.
These supplies procured for commissioning and testing have been used for cooling and technical testing as part of the commissioning process of the LNG terminal in Inkoo, the firm said.
“During the commissioning period lasting until January 25, 2023, gas will be delivered to shippers who have made a reservation for this lot, as well as to secure Finland’s security of supply,” it said.
Besides the commissioning cargo, Floating LNG Terminal Finland (FLTF), a unit of Gasgrid and the operator of the FSRU-based terminal, previously invited market participants to submit offers for a total of seven capacity slots for the first quarter this year and also for the April-September period.
Gasgrid said that the the facility would receive LNG from the international market and would help Finland to “permanently phase out its dependency on Russian gas.”