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

The area is meant to serve as home to a regional LNG terminal to be built by Vopak E.O.S. in conjunction with the state owned company port of Tallinn.

"Port of Tallinn wishes to design the LNG terminal as a regional terminal, which means that it would meet the needs of consumers in the whole region – in the Baltic countries and also in the Republic of Finland. In addition to this the said LNG terminal has been planned to serve as a central distribution terminal to meet the needs of maritime traffic of the area of the Gulf of Finland," it stands in the decision adopted by the municipality.

The need to set up the terminal arises, among other things, from environmental requirements, which say that the sulphur content of ship fuel must not surpass 0.1% as of 2015.

"Likewise, Estonia wishes to be not only a dependent, but also a decision maker on the regional natural gas market. Therefore Estonia is the best possible location for the terminal. The thematic plan was initiated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, which has expressed it clearly in its explanatory letter that the establishment of the LNG terminal in the area of the port of Muuga constitutes a national interest," it stands in the decision.

The terminal would have a storage capacity of up to 400,000 cubic meters and would handle up to 5 bln cubic meters of natural gas per year serving as a regional facility. The territory of the LNG terminal is estimated to cover an area of approximately 13 hectares.

There are four plots in the area covered by the thematic plan that are being viewed as potential locations of the terminal, owned respectively by Port of Tallinn, the government, and a private owner. It appears from the decision that in the opinion of experts the best option would be a plot situated at Tahkumae in the easternmost part of the port of Muuga, in the case of which potential areas of hazard would not extend to dwellings and the likelihood of a domino effect between businesses operating in the port would be the smallest.

The supervisory board of Port of Tallinn endorsed a plan to set up a LNG terminal in the port of Muuga in the summer of 2015. The estimated construction cost of the terminal is up to 20 million euros and the investment would be made by the private company Vopak E.O.S., partner to Port of Tallinn.