Pipeline to Paldiski will be completed on time: TSO

Estonian transmission system operator (TSO) Elering will complete its connecting pipeline to the Paldiski LNG terminal on schedule, but is waiting for Alexela and Infortar to provide technical information for the specific floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) that they intend to use, it said.

"Elering will complete its work in Paldiski on time, which means that from the beginning of December, our gas infrastructure under construction will be ready to receive gas," Elering's chairman of the board Taavi Veskimagi said.

Elering was tasked with building a pipeline from the nearest compressor station to the "connection point" at the terminal, but the link between this point and the FSRU itself is part of the terminal's construction, the TSO said.

In the summer, the operator of the Finnish terminal, floating LNG terminal Finland Oy, submitted a connection request to the Estonian grid, which was until 11 November the only such request Elering had received. This means that the construction Elering did was designed for the specifics of the Exemplar FSRU that the Finnish side had rented, the TSO said.

The connection point will be located between Elering's gas infrastructure and the marine loading arm, according to the connection request. The link between the arm and Elering's infrastructure was part of the floating terminal's construction, Veskimagi said, meaning it would be outside Elering's responsibilities. "We have explained this publicly on several occasions, what we are doing and to what extent," Veskimagi said. "This cannot come as a surprise to anyone a few days before the gas interconnection is completed."

Alexela and Infortar submitted their connection request on 11 November, to which they claim Elering responded that gas could not be brought to Paldiski "in the near future". Elering told Argus this was not true, and that it had not told Infortar or anyone else that it was not possible. But Elering says it is waiting for technical information on the FSRU these firms plan to use before it can reconstruct the connection point for the new user.

By Brendan A'Hearn