Over the weekend, Eesti Gaas, the leading privately-owned energy company in the Finnish-Baltic region, received its first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) onboard the tanker Vivit Americas LNG at the port of Inkoo.
The cargo originated from Vitol's US-based Venture Global Calcasieu Pass facility and is part of a larger agreement between Eesti Gaas and LNG terminals to deliver ten cargoes by the end of fall this year.
Already, three deliveries have arrived at Lithuania's Klaipeda port in January and March, while seven more deliveries are expected to arrive at the Inkoo port in Finland in the spring and summer.
The Vivit Americas LNG is a modern LNG tanker, 299 meters long and 46 meters wide, with a storage capacity of 174,062 m3 of liquefied gas. It was built in 2020 and flies under the Maltese flag.
Vitol has a global LNG portfolio with long term sourcing contracts from producers in the USA, Middle East, Africa and Asia. In 2022, Vitol traded over 17.5 million toe of LNG, with 67% of this volume supplied to Europe.
Eesti Gaas had also procured five large shiploads of gas for its customers through the port of Klaipeda last year.
“We are one of the few energy companies in the region to procure gas directly from Western sources, this allows us to offer our customers greater security and better prices, and has significantly increased our market share in Finland and the Baltic countries over the past year,” said Pasi Näkki, CEO Eesti Gaas’ daughter company in Finland.
“Until today we have used the port of Klaipeda in Lithuania to bring gas from the United States and Norway, now we start cooperation with the Inkoo terminal too and also with a new supplier in addition to our current partner Equinor from Norway – a global energy company Vitol,” said Näkki.
Pablo Galante Escobar, Head of LNG & European Gas and Power, Vitol said: “Vitol is delighted to deliver the first LNG cargo to Eesti Gaas via Finland’s Inkoo terminal. The opening of the terminal will enhance energy security in Finland and the Baltic region, facilitating the flow of LNG from around the world to European industry and consumers.”