EurOil: Estonian-Finnish gas link comes back online after six-month closure

The Balticconnector gas pipeline linking Finland and Estonia has returned to operation after its closure in October last year owing to a rupture, the two countries’ transmission system operators (TSOs) reported on April 22.

Balticconnector was closed on the night of October 8 last year, after a rapid drop in pressure indicated a leak. The event sparked fears of deliberate sabotage, in light of the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines the previous year. A telecommunications cable in the area was also damaged on the same day.

Authorities in Finland now believe that the damage was caused by a Chinese containership Newnew Polar Bear dragging its anchor along the bed of the Baltic Sea. Investigiations are ongoing, and Helsinki is in talks with Beijing on the incident.

Estonian TSO Elering reported on April 4 that necessary repairs had been completed, and the pipeline’s integrity and strength tested. Balticconnector began flowing commercial gas on April 22 as per the plan.

According to Elering and its Finnish counterpart Gasgrid, market participants will transmit approximately 10 GWh of commercial gas from Estonia to Finland during this gas day, and around 70 GWh from Finland to Estonia. The TSOs therefore intend to transmit 60 GWh of physical gas from Finland to Estonia during the day.

The Balticconnector pipeline linking the two countries was commissioned at the start of 2020. It runs for 152 km from Inkoo in Finland to Paldiski in Estonia.

The project’s launch was crucial for Finland to secure an alternative source of gas supply to Russian supplies. The country would have been much harder hit by Gazprom halting its supplies in May 2022, had the pipeline not been there to provide gas from the Baltic region.

Finland later strengthened its energy security with the commissioning of the Inkoo floating LNG (FLNG) terminal in March last year. Estonia in turn benefits from access to this terminal, although it also has access to non-Russian gas brought ashore in LNG form in Lithuania and Poland.

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