Energy, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Good for Business

The work to pull the end of the underwater portion of the pipeline from the sea was finished at 9 a.m. on Monday and the last weld on the underwater pipe will be completed next week, Estonian transmission system operator Elering said.

In the final welding, the portion of the pipeline about one kilometer in length pulled onto land will be welded together with the 76-kilometer submerged pipeline the installation of which was finished over the weekend.

In the coastal sea, the first 1.7 kilometers of the pipeline will be covered with soil and rocks. A pressure test of the pipeline will be conducted this summer.

Balticconnector is to go into operation at the beginning of next year, when the joint gas market of Finland, Estonia and Latvia will launch. 

The Estonian-Finnish gas connection along with strengthening the connection between Estonia and Latvia will cost altogether some 300 mln euros and the European Union will finance the project with over 200 mln euros.

The length of the offshore part of Balticconnector from the Estonian town of Paldiski to Inkoo, Finland is 77 kilometers. The length of the aboveground part of the gas interconnection is 55 kilometers in Estonia and 21 kilometers in Finland.