The Finnish Government intends to ban imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) coming from Russia in 2025, announced the Minister of Climate and Environment, Kai Mykkänen, in an interview with the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.
“I don’t want to promise any specific date, but possibly next year we will be in a situation where the ban will be in force“said the minister.
The Finnish state company Gasum has continued to import LNG through the Pori and Tornio terminals, despite the war in Ukraine, due to the long-term contracts signed with the Russian Gazprom, which oblige it to make minimum payments regardless of the purchase volume.
While Latvia and Lithuania have banned the import of Russian LNG, Finland wants to wait for the European reform of the gas market approved last December to come into force this spring, which allows imports of Russia either Belarus for security reasons.
According to Mykkänen, this will give legal solidity to a national ban.
The minister noted that it would be desirable for a joint community decision to be taken on the issue, but noted that “some member states are not ready for this” and “it is a fact” that it will not be possible to reach an agreement like that.
Russia interrupted gas pipeline supply to Finland in May 2022 and, since then, that country has imported smaller quantities of LNG. Other European importers are Spain, Belgium and France.
Source: Gestion
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