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

A final agreement wasn’t yet achieved but Rõivas was optimistic that the agreement would be concluded during his next visit to Helsinki, which takes place on November 6-7.

Ärileht said that according to information available to it, the Estonian government is ready to agree that the LNG terminal, on the location of which the two states haven’t been able to agree upon in years, would be offered to Finland in the name of rapid completion of the Finnish-Estonian gas pipeline required to connect the Finnish and Baltic gas markets.

"I would not reveal that yet," said Rõivas, in comment to that, hinting at financing being the main reason. "The European Commission will support in substantial part the financing of the pipeline. Whether and how much it is possible to support the terminal investment, is still not clear," said the Prime Minister, adding that Estonian consumers would not be able to pay the terminal building costs via gas tariffs.

If the terminal was built in Estonia, Finland wouldn’t be interested in the gas pipeline which would help share costs at a bigger market, Ärileht said.

Estonian Public Broadcasting reported though that the agreement between the Estonian and Finnish prime ministers envisions building both the pipeline and terminals in both states, a bigger one in Finland and a smaller one in Estonia. The pipeline could be completed in 2018 earliest