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FACTBOX: Balticconnector gas pipeline

The Balticconnector pipeline connects the gas systems of Finland and Estonia

© Lehtikuva/ Finnish Border Guard/ Handout via REUTERS

TASS-FACTBOX. On October 10, 2023, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto stated that the damage to the Balticconector gas pipeline connecting Finland and Estonia may have been caused by external activity. TASS summed up the main facts about this gas pipeline.

General information

The Balticconnector pipeline connects the gas systems of Finland and Estonia. Its total length is 151 km, including 77 km along the bottom of the Gulf of Finland. The underwater part stretches between the city of Inkoo (Uusimaa region, southern part of Finland) and Paldiski (Harjumaa county, northern part of Estonia). The pipeline’s capacity is 2.6 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Gas runs through a single pipe both in the northern and southern directions.

History

The gas pipeline project between the authorities of Finland and Estonia had been in the works since the mid-2000s. It was developed to diversify fuel supply routes and create a single gas market in the region, as well as connecting Estonia with the large Incukalns underground storage facility in Latvia.

The European Commission approved the project in August 2014. Its total cost was 250 million euros. It was initially planned that the bulk of the funds would be provided by the Finnish side, but in the end 75% of the total amount was allocated by the EC.

The agreement on the construction of the gas pipeline was signed on October 21, 2016. Construction began on June 8, 2018. The pipes for the underwater section were manufactured in Greece. The Finnish side purchased pipes for the underground section from the Russian Pipe Metallurgical Company.

The ceremony for the launch of the gas pipeline took place on December 11, 2019 in Helsinki and Paldiski and was attended by Presidents of Estonia and Finland Kersti Kaljulaid and Sauli Niinisto. Commercial operation of Balticconnector began in 2020.

Finnish and Estonian state companies Gasgrid and Elering act as the project’s operators.

Use

Since May 2022, after the cessation of natural gas supplies from Russia, Finland began to receive gas only from LNG terminals and via the Balticconnector.

On October 8, 2023, the Finnish gas transmission system operator Gasgrid announced that it was cutting off the gas supply to the Balticconector due to a suspected leak.

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