Finland’s natural gas transmission operator Gasgrid remains on schedule to recommission a gas pipeline linking the country with the gas transmission network in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland that has been inoperable since it was struck by an anchor nearly three months ago.
Gasgrid said this week that the restart of operations on the Balticconnector pipeline in April 2024 is “technically still possible but requires success in the planning and repair work”.
“Materials needed for repairing the pipeline have been manufactured and the selection of the key partners is completed”, the operator said.
“Based on the information obtained from the inspection of the pipeline, the actions for repairing the pipe have now been planned more precisely, and the repair plan has progressed in accordance with the set objectives.”
Gas transmission on the Balticconnector was halted in the beginning of October after Gasgrid and Estonia’s operator Elering reported a sudden pressure drop in the offshore segment of the system.
By the end of October, Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation concluded that the pipeline had been ruptured after being dragged several metres across the seabed by a loose anchor from Chinese-owned container ship Newnew Polar Bear.
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Despite the outage, Gasgrid said the “situation of the Finnish gas system is stable, and the supply of gas from the LNG terminal in Inkoo has been secured.
“The terminal has the capacity and the ability to deliver the gas Finland needs, also during the winter season, when the gas consumption tends to be higher.”
However, in a bid to ensure future supply security, the operator plans to raise the Balticconnector’s base capacity in the Estonia-to-Finland route to about 6.3 million cubic metres per day, an increase of between 8% and 28% from its previous summer and winter capacity.
The higher capacity will be available to gas shippers starting in October next year, Gasgrid said.
In the reverse direction, from Finland to Estonia, Balticconnector’s capacity will be about 6.7 MMcmd — close to maximum capacity, considering the pipeline’s diameter and its design pressure, the operator added.