Gasum

Gasum
limited company (Oy)
Industry Oil and gas industry
Founded 1994 (1994)
Headquarters Espoo, Finland
Area served
 Finland
Key people
 Johanna Lamminen (CEO) and (Chairman of the Board)
Products Natural gas, Bio gas, LNG, Gas stoves, Heating system equipment
Services Natural gas transmission
Revenue €1.079 million (2014)
€5.1 million (2014)
Owner Finnish Government (75%)
Gazprom (25%)
Number of employees
 236 (2010)[1]
Subsidiaries Gasum Tekniikka Oy
Kaasupörssi Oy
Website www.gasum.com

Gasum Oy is an integrated gas company located in Espoo, Finland. It is the transmission system operator of the natural gas grid of Finland, as also the natural gas importer and seller. Gasum is a fully state-owned company, with 73.5% of the shares held by the state-owned Gasonia Oy and 26.5% by the State of Finland.

Gasum was established in 1994. The CEO and Chairman of the Board is Johanna Lamminen.

History

The first natural gas pipeline from the Soviet Union to Finland was opened in 1974.[2] From 1974 to 1994 Neste Oy was responsible for a gas business in Finland, also the import of natural gas, the transmission services and the wholesale of natural gas. Gasum was established in 1994 as a joint venture between Neste (75%) and Gazprom (25%).[3] After merger of Neste and Imatran Voima in 1998, the newly created company Fortum had to reduce its stake in the company to 25%. The Government of Finland (24%), E.ON (20%) and Finnish forest companies (6%) became new shareholders. In 2004, Fortum acquired the 6% stake from the forest companies.[4] In 2015, Fortum and E.ON sold their stake to the Finnish government.[5]

Operations

Gasum's operates in the field of natural gas import, transmission, distribution and sale.[6] In addition, it produces and sales biogas. In 2014 Gasum acquired the majority (51 percent) of Norwegian Skangas’ distribution operations from the Lyse Corporation.

In 2010 Gasum sold a total of 44.6 TWh of natural gas, which covered 10% of Finland's total demand for energy.

Gas transmission

Gasum owns 1,190 kilometres (740 mi) of gas transmission network in Finland. The transmission network is Gasum's largest asset and a major part of Gasum personnel, approximately 100 employees work in transmission maintenance duties. The natural gas volume of transmission pipeline is 261,000 cubic metres (9,200,000 cu ft).[7][8]

Gasum planned to build a subsea gas pipeline Balticconnector to connect Finland with the Estonian gas system and further with a gas storage in Latvia.[9][10] In October 2015, Gasum abandoned the project due to commercial viability.[11] It was replaced in the project by the Finnish state-owned company Baltic Connector OY.[12]

LNG distribution

Gasum´s subsidiary Skangas Ltd is building Finland’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at the oil and chemical harbor of the Port of Tahkoluoto in Pori.[13]

Filling stations

As of 2014, Gasum had 18 public NGV filling stations in Finland.[14]

Biogas production

In 2011, Gasum started biogas production by using anaerobic digestion.[15] Gasum is cooperating with energy company Helsingin Energia and forest industry company Metsä-Botnia for construction of a biorefinery for biogas production in Joutseno, Finland. The biorefinery would produce biogas from renewable wood raw material for transmission along the Gasum gas network to usage sites such as Helsinki Energy's Vuosaari power plant. This project is a continuation to the letter of intent signed by Gasum and Helsingin Energia in April 2011. If the plan will realised, a biorefinery of this scale could produce an annual total of biogas that is enough to cover the electricity and heat consumption of more than 50,000 homes.

According to the preliminary plan, Metsä-Botnia and its parent company Metsäliitto would be responsible for wood raw material procurement and biorefinery operation. The plan is to mainly produce biogas from forest chips and bark, both of which are available as by-products of pulp mill wood procurement. The production capacity of the planned refinery would be 200 MW.[16]

Gasum and the Kouvola energy company KSS Energia have signed a letter of intent to build a large-scale biogas facility in the Kouvola region. The facility would be fueled by locally produced field biomass. Biogas produced by the plant could be fed into the Gasum's gas transmission system and used as a traffic fuel. The parties to the letter of intent are committed to studying among other things the technical operating concept of the facility, environmental impacts, potential location and economic feasibility. The Kouvola region is a good place to site this kind of facility producing biogas from energy crops. The region is naturally located with regards to the natural gas transmission system.[17]

Gallery

Gasum constructing natural gas line in winter in Finland. 
Gasum constructing natural gas pipe in Finland, near Kouvola. 
Gasum's natural gas pipe mark shown technical details, where the gas transmission network goes. 
Gasum's LNG truck. 

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Corporate Social Report 2010" (PDF). Gasum. Retrieved 2010.
  2. ↑ Tuija Käyhkö (15 Jan 2004). "Kekkonen runnoi maakaasun Suomeen". Tekniikka & Talous.
  3. ↑ Gasum Annual Report, page 52
  4. ↑ "Mergers: Commission decides to allow Fortum to increase its shareholding in Gasum in the Finnish energy sector" (Press release). European Commission. 2004-12-01. Retrieved 2015-07-06.
  5. ↑ Rosendahl, Jussi (2015-03-19). "Finland buys Gasum stakes from Fortum and E.ON". Reuters. Retrieved 2015-07-06.
  6. ↑ Gasum Annual report 2010 (pdf), Gasum in Brief page 4
  7. ↑ Gasum Corporate Social Respobility Report 2010, picture: Finnish natural gas transmission network in Finland, page 14.
  8. ↑ Gasum maps illustrating the natural gas networks at the Finnish and Baltic levels 2011 and also the technical information about the transmission network.
  9. ↑ Torma, Sami (2007-05-31). "Gasum proposes gas pipeline". Reuters. Retrieved 2012-03-26.
  10. ↑ "Finns plan new subsea gas link". Upstream Online (NHST Media Group). 2007-05-31. (subscription required). Retrieved 2007-10-13.
  11. ↑ "Gasum Dumps Balticconnector Plan". Subsea World News. 2015-10-06. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  12. ↑ "Elering with its Finnish partner submits grant application to EU Commission". The Baltic Course. 2015-10-15. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  13. ↑ "The Pori Terminal - Skangas". www.skangas.com. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  14. ↑ http://verkkojulkaisu.viivamedia.fi/gasumvuosikertomukset/annualreport2014
  15. ↑ Gasum biogas from the forests-proschure 2011
  16. ↑ Gasum press release 6 September 2011
  17. ↑ Gasum press release June 2011

External links

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