Energy, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Gas, Legislation

Also, Gasum no longer plans to build an LNG terminal in the southern part of Finland, wrote the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. Gasum said that after analysis it reached the conclusion that the projects would not be profitable for the company. Gasum estimates that LNG does not have enough market in Finland. The company's surveys show that the Finnish gas market has changed significantly compared to 2008, when these projects were started. Natural gas is not as competitive as it used to be and consumption has significantly decreased, said Gasum.

The Finnish government however, goes ahead with Balticconnector, a new public company will be created for the project. The Economic Affairs Committee of the Finnish Government decided today that Finland will continue the project without Gasum and a state-owned company will be created to carry out the work on the Finnish side.

Gasum is also a public company – 75% owned by the Finnish state, and 25% by the Russian energy company Gazprom.

Finnish Minister for Economic Affairs Olli Rehn said that the gas pipeline to Estonia is important, because it would link Finland with European gas network and open up a wider market for Finland.

Both Finland and Estonia are applying for European Union support for the project.

The cost of the project is planned to be 250 million euros, of which Estonia's part of the cost would be 130 million euros.