Fortum, Gasgrid Finland plan country's 1st floating LNG terminal

Fortum Oyj and Gasgrid Finland Oy signed a letter of intent to place Finland's first floating liquefied natural gas terminal vessel at Fortum's Inkoo port on the country's southern coast.

Known as Exemplar, the floating storage and regasification unit has a volume of about 151,000 cubic meters, corresponding to around 68,000 tonnes of LNG when fully loaded, according to a news release. Gasgrid Finland is leasing Exemplar from Excelerate Energy Inc. for 10 years and aims to have the vessel available next winter.

Fortum said the vessel's capacity is sufficient for the gas needs of both Finland and Estonia. Finnish state-owned gas importer Gasum Oy stopped receiving Russian gas May 21 after refusing to make payments in Russian rubles.

Earlier in May, Fortum announced that it would exit its Russian activities amid the ongoing war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia.

"The vessel project is absolutely essential for the security of supply of natural gas in the Baltic region — and therefore extremely urgent," Gasgrid Finland CEO Olli Sipilä said. "I'm pleased that the decision on the location of the terminal was made in such fast schedule. As the need for the terminal covers the entire Baltic Sea region, Inkoo provides an excellent location for the vessel."

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