LNG

Gasum, the Finnish state-run natural gas and LNG company, has extended its bunkering services in the Antwerp, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam (ARA) region by locating its bunkering vessel “Kairos” in the area.

“This supports Gasum’s strategy to expand its maritime services in Northwest Europe,” said the Helsinki-based company.

Previously Kairos has been operating flexibly in the North Sea and Baltic Sea and only arrived in the ARA area upon request.

The 4,376 deadweight ton vessel is 117 metre in length and 20 metres wide with capacity of 7,500 cubic metres.

“The new location of 'Kairos' enables Gasum to deliver bunkers of LNG, the cleanest available marine fuel to its clients in Northern Continental Europe, whenever they have the need,” said Gasum.

Gasum’s Jacob Granqvist, Vice President of Maritime, said he was happy to have the “Kairos” deployed in the ARA.

Market growth

“We are now constantly present in the region and can better cater for the needs of our old and new LNG customers in the maritime segment,” explained Granqvist.

“LNG is the cleanest available marine fuel, and it’s rapidly becoming the most commonly used alternative to traditional fuels,” he noted

Gasum also owns a network of Nordic terminals and facilities comprising a small-scale liquefaction plant and an expanding chain of LNG fuel stations for vehicles.

Its terminals include Sweden’s Nynashamn facility with 20,000 cubic metres capacity of storage and purchased in April 2020 by Gasum from Germany’s Linde AG.

The Finnish company additionally has a small-scale liquefaction plant in Risavika, near Stavanger in Norway, while owning and operating other small regasification and import terminals in Ora and Alesund in Norway and Lysekil in Sweden.

It partly owns the Pori LNG import terminal in Finland and has a stake in the Finnish Tornio Magna regasification facility.

Denmark has opened the way for the completion of the Russian-led Nord Stream II pipeline natural gas project for Western Europe to compete with LNG after previous delays caused by threats of US sanctions.

Construction of the 1,230-kilometres pipeline is almost complete, apart for a final stretch of around 120 kilometres in length in Danish waters.

The Danish Energy Agency said it would allow the Gazprom-led project to use pipe-laying vessels with anchors instead of the more advanced ships using self-positioning technology and which are affected by US sanctions imposed in December 2019.

The US considers the Nord Steam II project a security risk to Europe, though both Russia and most European Union members have condemned Washington’s sanctions.

Germany is the main EU supporter of Nord Stream II and has been accused by several EU members, including Poland, of encouraging the EU energy security policy of building LNG import terminals to reduce dependence on Russian pipeline gas while encouraging the new Gazprom pipeline project to supply Western Europe.

Nord Stream II also bypasses EU LNG importers Poland and Lithuania, as well as the traditional pipeline transit nation Ukraine, on its route under the Baltic Sea from the Russian port of Ust-Luga, near St Petersburg, to Greifswald in northeast Germany.

The Swiss-Dutch subsea company Allseas, which was laying the dual pipelines using two vessels, the “Pioneering Spirit” and the “Solitaire”, halted its work to avoid US sanctions.

With Allseas leaving the project, the Russians have taken over and President Vladimir Putin assured the Russian public that the pipeline would be completed without international assistance.

The Nord Steam II project's two parallel pipelines will be able to transport 55 billion cubic metres per annum of natural gas from Russia to Germany.

After starting in Russian waters, the pipelines pass through Finnish, Swedish, Danish and German marine areas before making their landfall on the German coast.

Still, even if Gazprom completes the project, the company will have to face legal obstacles related to its operation within the EU internal market.

The EU extended its internal gas market regulations in 2019 to pipelines to and from non-EU countries.

Under the amended law, Nord Stream II must adhere to third-party access (TPA) and tariff regulations for pipelines entering EU member territory as well as to the principle of unbundling, whereby the transmission and ownership of natural gas need to be separate from each other.

Analysts say this is a problem for Gazprom because of its vertically integrated structure.

The Russian company could, however, avoid the new EU rules if it is awarded an exemption by the national energy market regulator of the EU member state where the pipeline enters the EU - Germany’s Federal Network Agency.

Meanwhile, a Russian vessel, the “ Fortuna”, which is potentially able to complete the Nord Stream II pipeline, was heading for Danish waters, according to shipping data.

The “Fortuna” is a pipe-lay crane vessel that was built in 2010 and is sailing under the Russian flag.

In the decision to let the Russians lay the pipes, the Danish Energy Agency emphasized, among other things, that the remaining part of the pipelines must avoid certain areas of the sea bottom where deep trawling, anchoring and seabed interventions are discouraged due to the risk posed by “dumped chemical warfare agents”.

“The decision is made in accordance with the Continental Shelf Act and on the basis of Denmark's obligations under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” said the Danish statement.

“Here, Denmark is obliged to allow the construction of transit pipelines with respect for safety and resources rules and the environment,” stated the Danes. 

The Finnish gas market has opened up to competition with a wholesale market for pipeline natural gas after the transmission network was unbundled from LNG and gas firm Gasum.