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Estonia gives up stake in

Finnish LNG terminal

ESTONIA THE Estonian three-party government has same press conference.
decided that Estonia will give up its stake in the This decision, Sikkut said, is based on Esto-
Finland will now be company that operates the Finnish LNG termi- nia’s assessment that the application of Article 36
the sole owner of the nal and spend the €30mn budgeted for this pur- of the EU Gas Directive for providing an advan-
facility. pose to buy additional gas reserves, ERR.ee, an tage for joint purchases is not linked to the acqui-
Estonian news website, reported on November 4. sition of a shareholding.
“We decided not to acquire a stake in the Kallas also emphasised that Estonia is striving
company that operates the Finnish LNG ter- to guarantee that both Estonian and Finnish gas
minal and use the €30 million set aside in the sellers have “very clear” access to the terminal.
supplementary budget for this purpose to Sikkut said that the government had
[replenish] Estonia’s gas reserves,” Prime Minis- decided to establish a legal framework for the
ter Kaja Kallas said at a government press con- strategic natural gas reserve, the first of its kind
ference, adding that this is in line with the Act on in Estonia, which would specify the size of
the State’s Supplementary Budget, ERR.ee writes. the reserve as well as how the associated costs
“In the supplemental budget, we decided would be covered. For this purpose, the Minis-
to allocate €30 million for the security of gas try of Economic Affairs and Communications
supply to the Estonian Stockpiling Agency (AS is preparing amendment proposals to the Nat-
Eesti Varude Keskus or ESPA) to serve the same ural Gas Act.
goal in a different way. Therefore, if it cannot Sikkut said that the security of gas supply has
be achieved through the purchase of a stake, as changed since the spring: whereas in the autumn
it would be not practical at this time, it can be there were fears of gas shortages, today there is
achieved through the purchase of additional gas. an abundance of gas, but at a very high price; this
This option is available,” Minister of Economic is a problem that is being discussed throughout
Affairs and Infrastructure Riina Sikkut said at the Europe, ERR.ee reported. ™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 44 07•November•2022