The 1st 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 3rd 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 50th 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 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
Gas transmission and energy sales were unbundled, overnight, there were a number of different alternatives available to customers for sourcing gas.
To read the article in Russian
