A plan for liquefied natural gas terminals in Estonia and Finland, linked by a pipeline, has suffered a major setback.
A plan for paired liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in Finland and Estonia has suffered a setback.
The European Commission has rejected a proposal submitted in February by energy companies in the two countries. The neighbours are divided by the Gulf of Finland, which at its narrowest is around 60 km across.
The long-discussed plan, supported by the two countries, called for twin terminals linked by a pipeline. They are hoping for EU support for the project, which would cost hundreds of millions of euros. That hope was quashed by the Commission, which said it could not subsidise the plan as it stood.
The Ministry of Employment and the Economy said on Wednesday that talks will continue in the coming months.
The two terminals could cost as much as a billion euros, with a pipeline allowing the two countries to share imports potentially adding another 100 million euros.
Finland and the three Baltic states consume about 10 billion cubic metres of Russian gas annually.
The crisis in Ukraine, which has chilled relations between Russia and Europe, has prompted EU governments to look at ways to reduce their reliance on energy imports from Russia. The Finnish-Estonia plan has been underway since before the Ukrainian crisis, though.
Source: YLE - Reuters
http://yle.fi/uutiset/eu_says_no_to_finnish-estonia_natural_gas_scheme__for_now/7308921