Finland and Estonia launch Balticconnector gas pipeline
On December 11, ceremonies to mark the commissioning of the Estonian-Finnish gas pipeline Balticconnector were held simultaneously in Paldiski (Estonia) and Helsinki (Helsinki), reports Delfi news outlet.
The gas pipeline was launched by the Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö.
The length of the underwater part of the Balticconnector gas pipeline from Paldiski to Inkoo municipality in Finland is 77 km. The land part covers 55 km in Estonia and 21 km in Finland.
Gas will be transported between Finland, Estonia, and Latvia without additional cost. After the completion of work on gas connectors between Lithuania and Poland, the local gas market will no longer depend on supplies from the Russian gas giant Gazprom.
"When we started opening the market, the price of gas was about 40 euros, and we were paying Gazprom almost 10 euros above the price level for Western Europe. Today the price of gas is about 15 euros, and we can buy gas at the same price as Western Europe. And therefore, we have been developing the gas market and infrastructure to create an open regional gas market with many market participants," said Taavi Veskimagi, the CEO of the Estonian Elering company.
The total cost of the project, considering the works on reinforcing the gas pipeline between Estonia and Latvia, will amount to about 300 million euros. Out of that amount, the EU invests more than 200 million euros.
Earlier, Bulgaria began to build a section of the gas pipeline to transport gas using the second branch of the Russian TurkStream gas pipeline bypassing Ukraine.