CEO: Elering holding stake in LNG terminal would not give advantage in terms of access

TALLINN – Even if Estonian system operator Elering acquired a shareholding in the Finnish company that has chartered the liquefied natural gas (LNG) floating terminal, this would not give Estonian companies priority access to the terminal, Elering CEO Taavi Veskimagi told the state budget control select committee of the parliament on Monday.

"There is no connection whatsoever between holding a stake and the use of the terminal. It is very clearly an open terminal, open for all market participants in the region," Veskimagi said, pointing out that such an advantage is not allowed, among other things, by the market rules of the European Union.

The Elering CEO said a possible investment in the Finnish terminal company can only be viewed from the point of view of economic logic, and according to the system operator, there is currently no economic logic in this investment. 

"If there is a desire and intention to work not in the economic logic, but in some other logic, then very clearly Elering as a company must be given a different, very specific guideline," he said, pointing out that neither has such a guideline been issued, nor the share capital increase necessary to acquire a stake decided on.  

That a shareholding would not provide an access advantage was confirmed to lawmakers also by Timo Tatar, deputy secretary general for energy and mineral resources at the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications.