Estonian minister: No final decision regarding LNG terminal yet

  • 2022-03-30
  • BNS/TBT Staff

TALLINN – The Estonian government discussed the possibility of building a terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) on Tuesday, but no final decision was taken; Estonia is currently negotiating with Latvia and Finland on the possibility of building a regional terminal, Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure Taavi Aas said on Wednesday.

"Discontinuing the financing of the Russian war machine means that we must find an alternative to Russian gas. The size of the Baltic and Finnish gas markets is about 60-65 terawatt-hours per year, and the Klaipeda LNG terminal is able to cover nearly half of it," Aas told BNS.

The minister described the construction of a new LNG terminal as one way in which the region that Estonia is part of could give up gas supplies from Russia.

"We are still in talks with Latvia and Finland to explore the possibility of establishing a regional terminal," he said.

"Based on the outcome of the negotiations, a decision can be taken on how to proceed with this issue," the minister added.

On March 14, Timo Tatar, deputy secretary general for energy at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, told BNS that the government has so far understood that the construction of an LNG terminal should be based on market logic.

"As a country, we have contributed to the integration and development of the Baltic and Finnish markets," he said.

At a sitting of the parliament's state budget control select committee on March 21, Tatar underscored that a second LNG terminal is definitely needed in Estonia's immediate vicinity in addition to the one in Lithuania in order to ensure independent LNG supply from Russia.

Purchasing a LNG carrier designed as a floating LNG storage and regasification unit would cost Estonia some 300 million euros, with the other option being to rent the vessel, which would cost around 50 to 70 million euros per year.