Elering and Baltic Connector OY sign an agreement to build the offshore section of Balticconnector

On Thursday, Elering and the Finnish state-owned Baltic Connector OY signed an agreement with Allseas to install the biggest section of the offshore pipeline for the Balticconnector Estonian-Finnish gas connection.

Balticconnector’s offshore construction project will start this summer with seabed preparations to install the pipeline. According to the schedule, the actual submarine pipeline will be laid in summer 2019. The work will be finished by autumn of next year, after which preparations for the utilisation of the pipeline will begin.

Elering’s Chairman of the Board, Taavi Veskimägi, noted that signing the most substantial agreement of the gas connection will provide an assurance to complete the whole project by 2020. “Also, the construction procurements for the Kiili-Paldiski gas pipeline and Paldiski and Puiatu compression stations that will be built on Estonian territory within the Balticconnector project are in the final stages. This means that the main construction agreements will hopefully be signed in the near future, and actual construction work will begin on all objects.”

This week, Corinth Pipeworks Pipe Industry SA began producing the offshore pipes for Balticconnector in its Greek factory. Also, the coming months will see construction work on the Karksi new gas-metering station and on the Lilli pipeline intersection begin as part of the Balticconnector cluster.

The construction of Balticconnector will enable Finland to open a gas market, create a regional gas market covering the Baltic States and Finland and increase the security of gas supply in the area.

The length of the submarine section of Balticconnector from Paldiski to Inkoo in Finland is 77 km. The gas pipeline facilitates bi-directional gas flows. The capacity of the pipeline with 500 mm nominal diameter and up to 80 bar pressure is 7.2 million cubic metres of gas per day. The length of the land-based section of Balticconnector is 55 km from Kiili to Paldiski in Estonia and 21 km from Inkoo to Siuntio in Finland.

The European Union is supporting the construction of the Balticconnector cluster with 206 million euros. The total cost of the project is approximately 300 million euros.