Estonian gas system operator Elering AS contractor, Connecto AS, has begun building the pipeline that will connect the planned floating 5-billion cu m/year (bcmy) 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. Elering and Gasgrid Finland in May 2022 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.
According to the cooperation agreement between Elering and Gasgrid, the parties each will develop the necessary infrastructure for the terminal and bear the related costs. But FSRU rental costs will be covered jointly in proportion with 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, Balticconnector and the FSRU in the north, and Latvian underground gas storage, the 3.7-bcmy Klaipeda LNG terminal, and Polish-Lithuanian gas connector in the south.