LNG

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-owned LNG distribution company and regasification and liquefaction infrastructure owner in the Nordic region, is looking for a new Chief Executive after incumbent Johanna Lamminen resigned with immediate effect after leading the company for over seven years

Gasum of Finland, the Nordic LNG fuel terminal network operator supplying the shipping, trucking and power sectors reported large declines in nine-month after-tax profits and revenues as it felt the full impacts of Covid-19 and the resultant economic slowdown.

Gasum’s nine-month profits after taxes plunged to €1.6 million ($1.8M) from €8.3M in the same period of 2019.

The company also posted a drop in nine-month revenue to €448.9M from €698.2M in the same period of 2019.

Operating profits almost halved to €12.8M from €22.4M in the same period of last year.

”Our financial performance during the reporting period was almost in line with our expectations despite the uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and there was steady demand for gas solutions,” said Chief Executive Johanna Lamminen.

“The impacts of the pandemic were seen in our business, primarily with regard to the growth targets we set. Lockdowns caused us to push back with bringing our new plants into use and at the same time our customers have also delayed their projects, which in turn has impacted the start-up of Gasum’s deliveries,” she explained.

Gasum is owned by the government of Finland and has five LNG bunkering vessels in operation and several LNG terminals and plants in Nordic region.

“Revenue and operating profit were primarily affected by the price trend of gas in Europe,” said CEO Lamminen.

Gasum owns a network of LNG import terminals, a liquefaction plant and an expanding chain of LNG fuel stations for vehicles in the Nordic region.

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

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

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

The Tornio terminal in Northern Finland is the largest in the Nordic region.

It is located on the Swedish border which allows it to serve Gasum’s customers in Finland, Sweden and Norway.

The company continues to build its business and in third-quarter 2020 highlights it cited some new contracts.

“We secured a contract with Norwegian reinforced steel manufacturer Celsa Armeringsstal in Mo i Rana, to supply LNG from the Tornio terminal and to build a new customer terminal in Mo Industrial Park,” explained Lamminen.

“Switching to LNG will contribute to the company’s target of lowering carbon-dioxide emissions originating in its operations,” she added.

Gasum also noted the completion of several LNG bunkering operations in maritime transport to new customers in the Nordic countries and in Germany.

Gasum said it continued to expand the Nordic gas filling station network to serve heavy-duty transport.

“We opened gas filling stations in Gothenburg, Sweden and Lieto, Finland,” said the company.

“Our expanding gas filling station network is creating interest in gas from growing numbers of actors and Vekka Group, for example, introduced six biogas-powered buses into operations in Hämeenlinna in August,” it added.

After the third-quarter reporting period ended, Gasum said it had signed a cooperation agreement with Pavilion Energy of Singapore to develop a global LNG bunkering supply network for customers in Singapore and Northern Europe, including Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp.

Under a memorandum of understanding, the Asian and Nordic partners said they had agreed to leverage each other’s LNG bunkering infrastructure and supply capabilities to provide global supply points for customers.

As a licensed LNG importer and bunker supplier for Singapore, Pavilion has taken several firm steps to invest in and support Singapore’s LNG bunker readiness. The company is a subsidiary of the city-state’s wealth fund Temasek.

Gasum is owned by the government of Finland and has five LNG bunkering vessels in operation.

Finnish state-run natural gas supplier Gasum said it completed the takeovers of the LNG and biogas business of Germany’s Linde AG as well as German firm Nauticor’s marine bunkering unit.

Preem, the Swedish refining company and fuel exporter, signed an agreement with Gasum of Finland to purchase a new liquefied natural gas blend containing 10 percent biogas to fuel two LNG-powered oil-chemical tankers.

Gasum, the Nordic LNG distributor owned by the state of Finland, said it continued to develop as a company over the past year marked by parliamentary elections in Finland and the European Union where climate change and the energy sector were at the centre of debate.

“The importance of biogas and the circular economy as part of solutions to the acute challenges relating to climate was emphasized after the elections, and the role played by gas is now increasing in Finland as well as other countries such as Sweden,” said Johanna Lamminen, Chief Executive of Gasum in her annual review.

Gasum said that LNG and biogas were being targeted at those sectors where emission rates were highest, namely road and maritime transport and industry.

“Last year was a year of huge leaps of change for Gasum,” said Lamminen.

“For several years, we have been building Gasum into an energy company making it possible for our customers to access cleaner energy on land and at sea,” she stated.

Fully owned by the state of Finland, Gasum has LNG import assets in Finland and Sweden and LNG liquefaction as well as marine bunkering services through its former Skangas business, now integrated and operating  under the Gasum banner.

The company’s strategy includes an expansion to provide 50 LNG fuel stations by the early 2020s for Nordic transportation companies in Finland, Sweden and Norway.

“Our strategy of focusing on the development of the Nordic gas market and energy infrastructure is being implemented at a great pace,” added the CEO.

She reiterated that the Group’s revenue totaled €1.12 billion ($1.28Bln), down 4.2 percent compared with 2018.

“The decline in revenue was caused primarily by the development in the sales price of gas. Our operating profit was €141.4 million, up 13.9 percent year on year,” she added.

Gasum also concluded the acquisition of the energy industry expert company Enegia to be better positioned among energy market service providers.

“We also announced our acquisition of AGA’s Clean Energy business and Nauticor’s Marine Bunkering business from Linde AG last year,” said Lamminen.

“Once completed, the transaction will create a platform for an even broader offering of low-emission energy solutions in response to growing demand among industrial, maritime and road transport customers,” she added.

In other restructuring, Gasum sold its subsidiary Gasum Tekniikka Oy to the industrial maintenance partner Viafin Service Oyj, which has continued the active development of gas-sector maintenance services.

Gasum continues to build its LNG bunkering business and carried out its 200 ship-to-ship operation in January 2020 as maritime use of the fuel gathers pace in northwest Europe.

The board of directors of Gasum has also been slightly changed with two new members appointed and two others stepping down.

The current members of the Board are Stein Dale, Elina Engman, Päivi Pesola, Elisabet Salander Björklund and Torbjörn Holmström. They were re-elected at the annual meeting.

“Minna Pajumaa and Ari Vanhanen were elected as new members of the Gasum Board and Elina Engman was elected as the Chair,” said Gasum.

Juha Rantanen had previously served as the Chairman of the Gasum Supervisory Board during 2014-2016 and as the Chairman of the Gasum Board of Directors from 2016-2020. 

Another member of the board and supervisory board since 2010, Jarmo Väisänen was no longer available when Board members were elected this time.

Elected to the board as a new member, Senior Financial Counsellor Minna Pajumaa works in the Ownership Steering Department of the Finnish Prime Minister’s Office. 

Also elected to the board as a new member, Ari Vanhanen, is the CEO and a board member of Colliers International Finland Ltd.

Feb 10 (LNGJ) - Gasum of Finland, the main Nordic LNG supplier and importer, said that in line with its growth strategy for LNG maritime and trucking fuel it was expanding its role in the Nordic power market by becoming a member of the Nordic power exchange of Nasdaq OMX. The membership provides Gasum with access to direct trading in the power derivatives market. “In recent years, Gasum has been investing purposefully in building the Nordic gas ecosystem. In addition to the gas market, Gasum also aims to respond to customers’ energy needs by operating in an active role in the power market too,” said the company.

The Nordic LNG supplier, Gasum of Finland, has carried out its 200 ship-to-ship bunkering operation as maritime use of the fuel gathers pace in northwest Europe.

Gasum, the Nordic natural gas company and LNG supplier based in Finland, said it had agreed to acquire two businesses from the German group, Linde AG, with one involved in the clean energy sector and another in LNG maritime fuel.

Gasum, the natural gas network company in Finland and a leading Nordic liquefied natural gas supplier, reported nine-month earnings down by 7.2 percent as its clean energy policies proved to be slow in growing profits as it also prepared for the opening up of the market with the spinning off of a new company called Gasgrid Finland.