Elenger launches in Finland, Latvia and Lithuania
Eesti Gaas is adopting a new trademark, Elenger, on its export markets. The first markets to be targeted will be Finland and Latvia. In Estonia the company will continue to operate under the Eesti Gaas trademark.
“The changes taking place on neighbouring markets are creating all sorts of new opportunities for us,” said Ants Noot, the Chairman of the Management Board of Eesti Gaas. “We’ve already started working with clients in Latvia and achieved solid market share in wholesale segment, next move is to enter retail market. We are now taking our first steps on the Finnish market, which will open up at the end of the year, and we’ve got Lithuania in our sights as well.”
Of the 6 billion m3 of gas offered on the Finnish-Baltic market, Noot says that Elenger will be looking to provide one-sixth. “Based on our experience and efficiency we’ve set ourselves a billion as our goal, which will mean two-and-a-half times the capacity of what we’re offering at the moment,” he explained.
“LNG sales will definitely be one direction we can take in Finland, in ports and on the open sea,” said Kalev Reiljan, a member of the management board of Eesti Gaas. “In bunkering the Megastar and building a new bunkering ship we’ve become the company with the most LNG competence in our region.”
Reiljan added that the company does not plan to limit itself to the transport and sale of natural gas in Finland. “We want to construct and renew gas pipelines in the country as well,” he said. “Our subsidiary is already overseeing the construction of the Balticconnector gas connection between Finland and Estonia.”
The name ‘Elenger’ tells a story of electricity, energy, gas and LNG. The Eesti Gaas trademark will remain in use in Estonia, with the company having updated its look. Neither the introduction of the Elenger trademark nor the changes to the Eesti Gaas logo will affect existing client relationships or contracts.
Last year Eesti Gaas supplied more than 16,000 tonnes of LNG. The company has bunkered the Megastar passenger ferry more than 1600 times. The Dutch shipbuilders Damen are currently constructing a unique LNG bunkering ship for Eesti Gaas to serve the northern and eastern sections of the Baltic Sea. The vessel is due for completion in 2020 and will service environmentally friendly ships on the Gulf of Finland.
LNG or Liquid Natural Gas has a very high energy content and its use requires no natural gas network. It is utilised in energy production and both land-based and maritime transport. It is an environmentally friendly type of fuel enabling significant reductions in the CO2, NOx and SOx content of emissions. Moreover, it produces almost no soot particles. The bunkering ship due for completion next year will remove around 66,000 tonnes of CO2 from the Baltic Sea each year.
