Balticconnector Engineers Selected

Finnish state-owned company Baltic Connector has chosen Neste Jacobs and Ramboll Finland as its ‘owner’s engineering’ consultants for Balticconector, the gas pipeline that by 2020 will link Finland and Estonia.

Under an agreement signed November 17, experts at Finland’s Neste Jacobs will support the execution of the onshore gas pipeline and the compressor station, while Denmark’s Ramboll will support the execution of the offshore gas pipeline.

Balticconnector will be a 150km bidirectional pipe, of which 80km will be subsea. It will link Inga in Finland and Paldiski in Estonia.

Source: Balticconnector

Baltic Connector and Estonian grid operator Elering are responsible for its construction. The two companies took the final investment decision a month ago on the €250mn project, 75% of which (€187.5mn) will be co-funded by the European Commission.

In September, Neste Jacobs completed 2014-16 Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management work for Skangas’ LNG import terminal at Pori in western Finland – the country’s first LNG import terminal. California-based Jacobs Engineering is a minority partner in Neste Jacobs.

The planned interconnector is expected to increase the security of supply and energy security of the entire region and will open the Finnish gas market by connecting it to the European gas network.

Mark Smedley