Paldiski LNG Terminal

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor and the Center for Media and Democracy.

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Paldiski LNG Terminal is a proposed LNG terminal in Estonia. (Some sources have the project misspelled as "Padalski".)

Location

The map below shows the location of the project, in Paldiski, Harju County.

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Project Details

• Owner: Balti Gaas
• Parent: Alexela
• Location: Paldiski, Harju County, Estonia
• Coordinates: 59.38445, 24.07494 (exact)
• Capacity: 1.8 mtpa, 2.5 bcm/y
• Status: Proposed
• Type: Import
• Start Year: 2020

Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcfd = billion cubic feet per day

Background

Paldiski LNG Terminal is a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal in Estonia. The project would be built by Balti Gaas, a subsidiary of Estonian company Alexela Group. The project would cost about $1 billion in total.

In February 2017, the EU denied Alexela's application for a grant of about $400 million for the project from the European Cohesion Fund. Alexela announced that it planned to continue pushing forward with the project anyway, using private capital.

In October 2018 Alexela and Tallinna Sadam signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly develop a proposal for an LNG terminal.

There appears to be a certain amount of competition between this proposal, the Lithuania's Klaipeda LNG Terminal, and the Tallinn LNG Terminal for EU endorsement and funding. According to Food and Water Europe's profile on Estonian gas, "These two projects [the Tallinn Terminal and the Paldiski Terminal], have not been accepted in the third [Projects of Common Interest] list but both applied as candidates for the 4th list. The Commission seems to only support one project in the region leaving it up to the Baltic states to decide on which will be their priority project. It is clear that a new LNG terminal such as this would need financial support from the EU. This support would potentially have to be really significant, as conceived by the Paldiski LNG terminal project operator who warned that the infrastructure could only be built if the European Commission was covering 43% (around €150 million) of the €344 million needed. However, an application by the Paldiski LNG project promoter for EU funds under the [Connecting Europe Facility] was denied in 2017. Other developments make plans to add new LNG capacities seem even less reasonable: the Lithuanian LNG terminal which is already able to supply Estonia and Latvia with gas, was planned to be leased until 2024. The Lithuanian government approved the terminals acquisition after 2024 in 2018, which makes it clear that these import capacities would be available beyond 2024 if necessary."