Finland Plans Gas Imports From Latvia

HELSINKI, Finland – Finland is planning to start importing natural gas from Latvia via a pipeline under the Baltic Sea from Estonia, officials said Tuesday. They said the pipeline could become operational by 2010.

The seabed pipeline, at an estimated cost of 80 million euros ($95 million), would run from Estonia, some 50 miles south of Finland across the Gulf of Finland. The natural gas would be transmitted to Estonia from Latvia along an existing gas network.

The new pipeline would help meet growing demand for the clean energy source, especially in the Helsinki region, according to Antero Jannes, chief executive of Gasum, a natural gas company that is 25 percent government owned.

“We have made preliminary studies and now we are starting a broader inspection to check the seabed,” Jannes said. “A final decision is expected by 2007 and the pipeline could be ready by 2010.”

A feasibility study of the project will begin next month and is scheduled to be completed next year, Jannes said. The European Union will provide half the research cost estimated to total 2.5 million euros ($3 million).

Finland meets 11 percent of its energy needs with natural gas imports from Russia, and demand is growing.

“In the capital region, demand for natural gas is increasing, and for heating purposes we could significantly replace the use of coal burning with natural gas,” Jannes said. “One of the main reasons for new demand is the wish to meet the targets of the Kyoto (Protocol) by cutting carbon dioxide emissions.”

“A new pipeline with natural gas from Latvia would also increase flexibility in our energy planning and ease storage,” he added.

Finland’s natural gas network consists of 620 miles of high-pressure transmission pipelines and some 745 miles of distribution pipelines.

About 50 municipalities in the country use natural gas, and in 1998 Helsinki City Transport started to operate natural gas buses.