LNG

March 4 (LNGJ) - Gasum, Finland’s state-owned supplier to the Nordic region of LNG and biogas made from waste, has expanded its LNG, compressed natural gas and biogas filling stations network in Sweden. Gasum’s partner in the build-out is logistics company Centralen combining 70 transporters with a combined fleet of 220 heavy-duty vehicles.

   Gasum said it opened a station at Vänersborg, taking the Swedish gas fuel network for trucks and cars to 23 in total. “The new station in Vänersborg is at a traffic hub on the European route E45 connecting both to the E6 in the west and the E20 in the east. This means that the new station greatly improves the connectivity between the inland and west coast traffic routes to Norway,” said Sharareh Edström, Director of Traffic Sweden at Gasum.

Nordic LNG and biogas company Gasum has started an expansion project at its Riihimäki biogas plant in Finland that makes natural gas from waste and supplies it to the national gas grid.

Nov 6 (LNGJ) - Finnish state-run energy company Gasum has delivered a Norwegian-supplied LNG cargo to Finland’s Inkoo floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) facility to be fed into the nation’s gas pipeline grid. This is the second LNG cargo Gasum has delivered to the Inkoo FRSU since the Balticconnector gas pipeline between Finland and the state of Estonia suffered a rupture and was shut down in early October.

   Gasum explained that repairs to the pipeline are expected to take at least five months and until then all all Finnish natural gas demand must be met through imports of LNG. “We are working hard to secure supply of natural gas over the coming winter season to our customers, whose operations depend on a steady supply of gas,” said Jouni Liimatta, Head of Trading and Optimizing at Gasum. “It is a challenging situation, but we already have experience from rebuilding our pipeline natural gas supply chain after natural gas imports from Russia were suspended in 2022,” Liimatta added.

Denmark and Sweden, whose electricity systems have been interconnected for more than 100 years, have signed a natural gas supply agreement to be implemented in case of emergencies with the Danes pledging to supply Swedish essential services with gas.

The Nordic nations have entered into a “solidarity agreement “ on gas supplies signed by the Director General of the Swedish Energy Agency, Robert Andrén, and the Director of the Energy Agency of Denmark, Kristoffer Böttzauw.

“The agreement will come into force if an emergency situation arises, where the energy crisis escalates and gas shortages occur in the coming winters,” said a statement.

“In that case, Denmark will contribute to securing the supply of the protected customers in Sweden. This applies, for example, to households, hospitals, emergency services and other critical functions,” according to the agreement.

Small-scale LNG

While Sweden is a small-scale LNG importer of around 400,000 tonnes per annum for bunkering fuel and other uses, Denmark has the key pipeline links to North Sea natural gas supplies.

Andrén, the Sweden’s Energy Agency head, explained that their energy systems were complex and connected to several countries.

“The agreement shows the strength of international cooperation, especially for security of supply, where the benefits of cooperation are obvious,” added Andrén.

The backbone of the regional gas infrastructure is the Danish transmission system, which transport natural gas from the North Sea to distribution networks on land.

Danish state-owned firm Energinet operates the transmission system in Denmark and the system is also the route to Germany and Sweden and to the two Danish gas storage facilities, which are consolidated in a separate company owned by Energinet.

“The agreement we have signed reflects the great work and cooperation that has taken place in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine - not just in the Nordic region, but throughout the European union,” said Kristoffer Böttzauw, director of the Danish Energy Agency.

Team work

“No country in the EU or the Nordics can solve the energy supply crisis alone. So we must cooperate and be in solidarity with our neighbours - both when it comes to supply chains and energy savings,” added Böttzauw.

The Danish and Swedish sides noted that Russia's invasion of Ukraine has strained gas supplies across Europe causing large fluctuations in energy prices.

“Although electricity and gas prices have fallen since the summer of 2022 and the European gas storages have a very high degree of filling, there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure security of supply,” they said.

“The solidarity agreement shows the effect of the strong Nordic cooperation to ensure security of supply, where both countries benefit from close cooperation in both the electricity and gas fields,” they added. 

Nordic natural gas company Gasum of Finland, the region’s biggest distributor of LNG, aims to change its strategy in the next five years to concentrate operations on biogas made from waste and the electricity business.

Singapore’s main LNG company Pavilion Energy and the biggest Chinese LNG importer, China National Offshore Oil Corp., have signed an accord for strategic cooperation on LNG bunkering from Northwest Europe to China’s coastal areas.

April 26 (LNGJ) - Gasum, the Finnish state-owned liquefied natural gas provider to the Nordic countries and with stakes in two small-scale LNG import terminals in Finland, has obtained a distribution licence for the Belgian LNG fuel market. “The distribution licence allows Gasum to expand its supply network and guarantees safe and high-quality deliveries of LNG to customers bunkering in Belgium,” said Gasum.

   “The new LNG distribution licence will allow Gasum to deliver LNG to maritime customers in Belgium, expanding its supply network in Northwest European ports and waters,” said the company. “The licence includes the important port of Zeebrugge, which is one of Europe’s leading pure car/truck carrier hubs. The number of LNG-powered car/truck carriers is growing rapidly, subsequently increasing the global demand for maritime LNG,” explained Gasum.

Finland has drawn up plans to charter a liquefied natural gas floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in cooperation with its fellow European Union and Baltic Sea regional neighbour Estonia.

Gasum, the Finnish state-run natural gas company and leading Nordic LNG supplier, has named Mika Wiljanen as the new Chief Executive in succession to Johanna Lamminen, who stepped down after seven years in the post.

Gasum, the Finnish state-run natural gas company and leading Nordic LNG supplier, reported a loss amid higher revenues as it was hit by gas price derivatives issues.