Energy, Estonia, Financial Services, Gas, Legislation

Elering on Thursday signed an agreement with PANGAZ, the company to advise Elering on developing the technical solutions and organizing the "turnkey" construction tenders of the 55-kilometer Kiili-Paldiski gas pipeline and the Paldiski and Puiatu compressor stations, Elering said.

The procurements will be launched this fall according to the documents to be drawn up by PANGAZ and the results of the procurements are to be determined in the first quarter of 2018.

PANGAZ is also set to help organize the tenders for the services of owner supervision during the construction of those objects and is to provide owner's engineer services to Elering, which will last until the expected end of the guarantee of the Kiili-Paldiski pipeline and the compressor stations in 2022.

As the owner's engineer PANGAZ offers engineering know-how during the designing and construction of the land objects of Balticconnector and assess the accordance of the operating options of the finished objects with the procurement and design documentation by making amendment proposals and monitoring their implementation, if necessary.

PANGAZ has previously participated in a gas link project between Poland and the Czech Republic, which allows the company to share valuable gas-related know-how during the construction of Balticconnector concerning, for example, the construction and operation of the gas compressor stations.

The underwater portion of the gas link will be built by Elering in cooperation with the Finnish state-owned company Baltic Connector Oy.

Balticconnector is to connect the natural gas networks of Estonia and Finland with a 150-kilometer gas transmission pipeline, of which 80 kilometers will be located at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Compressor stations will be built in both countries for the transport of gas in the pipe. Along with strengthening the gas connection between Estonia and Latvia, the Balticconnector project is expected to cost approximately 300 million euros. The European Union is set to support the project with more than 200 million euros.