Gazprom Export: 50 years of reliable supplies of Russian gas to Finland

Helsinki, November 22 - Neftegaz.RU. 50 years ago, the 1^st contract was signed between Soyuznefteexport and Neste Oy (transformed into Fortum in 1998) signed a contract for supplying Russian natural gas to Finland.

The 1^st contract was signed in 1971, gas actually started arriving in Finland in 1974. via the Leningrad - Vyborg - State Border gas pipeline.
Finland has become the 3^rd country in Western Europe to receive Russian gas.
For half a century of the cooperation, about 130 billion m³ of gas has been imported to Finland.

In the background, there was the idea of bringing gas to Finland not only from Russia but also from the West.
The matter was also seen as a security of supply issue, and there were doubts about whether the Soviet Union or later Russia could cut off gas imports to Finland for economic or political reasons.
In practice, however, such a situation did not occur in Finland.

Elena Burmistrova, Director General of Gazprom Export, commented:

• Today, we celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the 1st export contract for gas supplies to Finland
• We highly appreciate the results of many years of cooperation, which has made an important contribution to the development of close economic cooperation between our countries

In 1994, the cooperation between Gazprom and Fortum resulted into the establishment of Gasum, which continued the import and sales of natural gas as well as operating and developing Finland’s gas transmission system.
In 2016, Gazprom sold its stake in the company, and the Finnish state became the only shareholder of Gasum.

Kai Laitinen, Interim CEO of Gasum, said:

• We are pleased and honoured to have this long-term natural gas supply agreement with Gazprom
• Natural gas plays an important role in the transition to a cleaner energy future
• Our fruitful partnership with Gazprom aligns our aim to fullfill our customer needs, while at the same time reducing emissions
• Natural gas offers long-term solutions to decarbonization with a longer aim

Since the opening of the natural gas market for competition on 1 January 2020, the natural gas transmission grid in Finland has been operated by the newly established state-owned company Gasgrid Finland Oy.