Sunday July 10th 2016 the first shipload of liquefied natural gas (LNG) arrived at the Gasum’s subsidiary Skangas LNG terminal in Pori. To be completed in August, the facility is the first LNG import terminal in Finland. LNG was brought with the time chartered Skangas Coral Energy carrier from the North West Europe. The Skangas LNG terminal is undergoing commissioning, and commercial deliveries to customers will begin in September. LNG will help diversify the Finnish energy market as it enables deliveries to industrial operators outside the gas pipeline network as well as for maritime and heavy-duty road transport.

The construction of the Skangas LNG import terminal in Pori has progressed according to the planned schedule without any accidents resulting in absence from work. The Skangas terminal project has provided 320 full-time equivalents of employment and at best the total number of people working on the site at the same time has been 230. Once operational, the terminal will employ around 10 people directly and around 50 other people indirectly. The project’s total investment amounts to €81 million, and energy support at €23 million was granted for the terminal project by the Finnish Ministry for Employment and the Economy.

Finland’s energy market will be diversified in September 2016 once the first commercial deliveries of LNG to customers take place. LNG enables deliveries to industrial operators outside the gas pipeline network as well as for maritime and heavy-duty road transport. Access to natural gas is an important competitiveness factor for current industrial operators in the area as well as for the Port of Pori, including Porin Prosessivoima, Huntsman Pigments and Additives Oy and Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta Oy.

“As part of our progress toward a carbon-neutral society, we’re now able to improve access to energy-efficient and clean LNG as an energy alternative. LNG can help achieve significant emission cuts while also facilitating the preservation of the competitiveness of the Finnish export industry. With the Coral Energy LNG carrier now having arrived safely in Finland, we’ll be able to begin LNG deliveries to our customers immediately on the agreed schedule. I’m very pleased with the progress made with our strategy, and we’re strengthening our position as the leading LNG player in the Nordic countries,” says Gasum CEO and Chair of the Skangas Board of Directors Johanna Lamminen.

LNG meets the requirements set by the Sulphur Directive regulating shipping emissions as well as the stricter emission limits to be applied in the future. LNG can be also used to replace the use of petroleum-based fuels in industry, energy production and heavy-duty road transport. Using LNG instead of oil helps achieve significant cuts in particulate as well as sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions. The use of LNG also enables a switch to liquefied biogas (LBG) without any additional investments.

In 2015 Skangas supplied a total of 376,700 tonnes (5.2 TWh) of LNG in Finland, Sweden and Norway. Skangas has an LNG production plant and terminal in Risavika, Norway, LNG terminals in Øra, Norway and Lysekil, Sweden, and the Pori terminal in Finland will be opened in August 2016. Progress in the construction of the Tornio MangaLNG joint project is being made as planned, and the terminal will be completed in Tornio, Finland, in 2018.

About Gasum

The energy company Gasum is a Finnish gas sector (natural gas and biogas) expert that is building a bridge to a carbon-neutral society on land and at sea. Gasum contributes to the creation of a sustainable energy economy by increasing the supply of Finnish biogas, developing the Nordic gas ecosystem and ensuring the price competitiveness of gas. Gasum imports natural gas to Finland, upgrades biogas and transmits and delivers these for a broad range of uses in energy production, industry, homes, and land and maritime transport. Gasum is the leading supplier of biogas in Finland. It injects biogas into the gas network from Espoo, Kouvola and Lahti, and from 2016 onwards also from Riihimäki. The Gasum subsidiary Skangas is a Nordic expert in liquefied natural gas (LNG) that will continue to strengthen the position and infrastructure of LNG and the utilization of new gas solutions more extensively in Finland, Sweden and Norway. The Gasum Group has around 300 employees in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The company’s revenue for 2015 totaled €915 million.

About Skangas

The LNG Company Skangas is the leading player in the Nordic LNG market. The company supplies LNG for shipping, industrial and heavy-duty road transport needs. We help our customers reach their environmental and operational targets by offering efficient and stable LNG deliveries. Skangas has LNG terminals in Øra, Norway, and Lysekil, Sweden. Finland's first LNG import terminal will be completed in Pori in August 2016. Skangas is a subsidiary of the Finnish natural energy gas expert Gasum Ltd, and its shareholders are Gasum Ltd (51%) and the Norwegian Lyse Energi AS (49%).