A floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) has found a home on Finland’s south coast, according to Gasgrid Finland and Fortum
Gasgrid Finland and Fortum have signed an agreement to place the FSRU in Fortum’s port in Inkoo, Finland. Located on Finland’s south coast, the companies said the port in Inkoo is deep enough for the vessel and is close to pipelines along which gas flows to end-users in industrial and other sectors in Finland, Estonia and the Baltic Sea region.
Gasgrid Finland has begun developing a new jetty in southern Finland, near the Balticconnector pipeline, where the FSRU Exemplar is to moor. A start has been made on building the port structures and natural gas pipeline and the ambition is to begin deploying the LNG terminal vessel in December 2022, the companies said.
”The teams at Gasgrid and Fortum have done great work over the summer. The preliminary agreement signed earlier paved the way for the [final] agreement, now signed, to place the floating LNG terminal in the port of Inkoo,” Gasgrid Finland chief executive Olli Sipilä said.
Gasgrid Finland agreed to lease the Exemplar floating LNG terminal from Excelerate Energy just before Gazprom Export cut the natural gas supply to Finland on 21 May 2022.
The 10-year charter agreement between Excelerate and Gasgrid Finland, signed 20 May, will provide an LNG supply to Finland, Estonia and the Baltic Sea region. Exemplar has storage capacity of 150,900 m3 of LNG and can provide more than 5Bn m3 per year of regasification capacity.
Excelerate said it will continue its seasonal deployment of FSRU Exemplar through the end of August 2022 at Argentina’s Bahia Blanca GasPort regasification terminal in Argentina. The FSRU will then be deployed to Finland Q4 2022.
To ensure continuation of gas supply, state-owned Gasum said it would serve customers during the summer season from other sources through the Balticconnector pipeline. Gasum’s gas filling stations in the gas network area will continue normal operation, the company said.
Last week, Excelerate also announced it has signed a letter of intent with Hyundai Heavy Industries for a newbuild FSRU with an option for a second vessel to be discussed.
