Balticconnector Gas Pipeline

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Balticconnector Gas Pipeline is a bi-directional natural gas pipeline project between Siuntio, Finland, and Kiili, Estonia, which connects the Estonian and Finnish gas grids.

Location

The pipeline links Siuntio, Finland to Paldiski, Estonia.

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Project Details

• Operator: Elering‎; Baltic Connector OY
• Capacity: 7.2 million cubic meters per day, 2.6 billion cubic meters per year
• Length: 155 kilometers / 96.31 miles
• Cost: €250 million (US$282.95 million)
• Financing: Connecting Europe Facility €3,822,160 grant for preparatory studies and €187,500,000 grant for construction; equity investments of €31,250,000 each from the Finnish state and Elering
• Status: Idle (under repair, to be re-opened in Q2 2024)
• Start Year: 2020

Background

The 150-kilometer natural gas pipeline is segmented into three divisions; a 22-kilometer Finnish onshore section, an 81-kilometer offshore section on the seabed of the Gulf of Finland, and a 47-kilometer Estonian onshore section. The project is composed of pipeline systems, stations and facilities to connect the existing gas networks in Finland and Estonia. The capacity of the pipeline is 7.2 million cubic meters per day.

The total cost of the project is reported to be 250 million Euros. The European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility fund provided the project with a grant of 3,822,160 euros for preparatory studies in 2014, and a further grant of 187,500,000 euros in 2016 which covered 75% of the construction costs. Finland and the Estonian national transmission system operator Elering completed the financing with an equity investment totalling 62,500,000 euros. The pipeline was scheduled to begin construction in 2018.

As of July 2019, construction work for the offshore portion of the pipeline was complete, including pipe laying and shielding. The next planned step was to pressure test the offshore pipeline in July-August of 2019, after which the pipeline would be emptied and dried. The offshore pipeline was planned to be connected to the onshore pipelines in Finland and Estonia during the fall of 2019. The pipeline was expected to be fully ready at the end of 2019, and that gas will start to flow in the pipeline on 1 January 2020 as the Finnish gas market opens.

In November 2019 the Finnish and Estonian parts of the pipeline were successfully connected and gas-flow was established. The pipeline began operation on January 1, 2020.

In October 2023, the Balticconnector pipeline was shut down due to a leak. The leak was initially suspected to have occurred due to an explosion, although Finnish investigators later found the pipeline had been damaged by a loose anchor.

In November 2023, Upstream reported that the pipeline was expected to be brought back online in Q2 2024. The capacity of the pipeline will be expanded to 6.3 million cubic metres per day along with the repairs.

Identifiers

European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) refers to the project on its Ten Year Network Development Plan as TRA-F-895 in Estonia and TRA-F-928 in Finland.

It's Project of Common Interest (PCI) number is 8.1.1.

Sci_Grid in its combined IGG gas transmission network data set refers to the pipeline as INET_PL_11270, INET_PL_11271, INET_PL_1130.