Alexela: MLA that went to Finland also a fit for the other terminal

Oct 04, 2023

LNG terminal developer Alexela says that the marine loading arm procured to link FSRU Exemplar that will be moored in Finland would also be a fit for the FSRU the company plans to bring to Estonia.

"We have applied to join the grid and provided all technical parameters for the vessel, according to which the same technical solution used for the Finns' Exemplar terminal could be used for the FSRU we are bringing," Alexela CEO Marti Hääl told daily Eesti Päevaleht.

Estonia's transmission network operator Elering said they do not have enough information to say what type of marine loading arm (MLA) is needed.

Hääl said that no reconstruction would be needed in Paldiski, the site of Alexela's terminal, and that the same MLA of which the Finns have two could be used.

Alexela and Infortar, which have constructed a pier that can host an LNG floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in Paldiski, said they were unpleasantly surprised recently to hear that TSO Elering would not be keeping its side of the bargain, or finishing the pipeline connection to the vessel. The mooring infrastructure was completed on November 30 but lacks a marine loading arm needed to get the gas from the ship and into the pipes. Elering finds that companies looking to create LNG reception capacity should be the ones to install it.

The TSO maintains that it initially built the pipeline link with FSRU Exemplar in mind that ended up going to the Inkoo terminal in Finland. The Finns bought two MLAs – one for Inkoo and one for Paldiski as a backup option.

But the Finns now have two linking devices and no longer want to surrender their other MLA to Paldiski.

Heiko Heitur, executive manager of the Estonian Gas Association, had criticism for the government and Elering. "Instead of telling fables of FSRUs sailing the high seas with MLAs attached, the TSO should have procured the arm. Elering project management has left us in a situation where we do not have a joint venture, FSRU, receiving capacity or access to LNG in Finland."

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Editor: Marcus Turovski