The decision to station the liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage and regasification ship at the terminal in Finland’s Inga instead of Estonia’s Paldiski will not affect Latvia’s situation significantly, said Latvia’s Minister of Economics Ilze Indriksone in an interview to LTV programme Rīta panorāma on 20 October.
She said that Latvenergo remains in constant contact with LNG terminal developers and has signed up for gas supplies from the first ship that is scheduled to arrive in December.
Indriksone admits Latvenergo is no longer in dire need of the terminal in Paldiski or Inga, because a long-term agreement has been reached on the use of Klaipeda LNG terminal. The option to supply gas through Estonia will be used as well.
At the same time, she admitted that it is important for the gas from Inga or Paldiski that is not needed to serve Finland’s energy security to be freely available to other traders active on the single gas market.
The agreement is already reached with partners in Finland and Estonia.
As previously reported, Estonian Minister of Economics and Infrastructure Riina Sikkut and Finnish Minister of Economics Mika Lintilä agreed that the LNG tanker ship will be stationed in Inga instead of Paldiski.
More on this topic: LNG terminal’s tanker ship to be stationed in Finland, not Estonia
At the end of September Sikkut reported that Estonia needs its own LNG tanker ship stationed in Paldiski. She added that one could be rented this winter.
Storage and re-gasification tanker Exemplar owned by U.S. company Excelerate Energy is currently in dry dock in Spain – the vessel is being prepared for operations during winter conditions.
The ship will be servicing Finland, Estonia and other Baltic States for the next ten years following the signing of a contract between the American company and Finnish gas system’s operator Gasgrid Finland. It is estimated that this will cost EUR 460 million in the next ten years, adding to that are the unstable costs depending on the volume of supplied gas.
Also read: Several dozen LNG tankers stuck near Spanish coast, waiting for permission to dock and unload gas