Elenger aims to take a strong position once the natural gas market opens in Finland

Finland will move to an open natural gas market in the beginning of year 2020. In addition, the Baltic Connector gas pipe will unite the Finnish gas market to a larger supply network in the Baltics. The Estonian energy company Elenger has been the leading natural gas supplier in the Baltics for a long time. Now the company is aiming to expand to the opening Finnish market the lead of a strong local management team.

The new natural gas legislation is set to be valid from the beginning of year 2020 and opens the gas market for competition. Previously the import, delivery and sales activity of gas has been executed in Finland by the state-owned monopoly company Gasum and pipe line gas has only been imported from Gazprom. Liquified natural gas (LNG) has previously been transported to Finland via sea transport. With the new legislation, new companies have access also to the distribution channels for LNG in Finland.

The Baltic Connector pipe line connection is under construction simultaneously as the natural gas legislation is reformed. Jarko Alanko, CEO of Elenger Ltd, is excited for the reformation of the Finnish LNG market.

Jarko Alanko 

• We are now experiencing perhaps the most interesting period of the Finnish natural gas market. When the number of actors in the market increases, there will be new pricing models, which in turn leads to more beneficial pricing for consumers. We have already experience from opening gas markets in Latvia and Estonia, which makes us confident about succeeding in the Finnish market as well.

Elenger has already delivered diverse LNG-based solutions for their Finnish client base. Tallink Silja’s leading passenger ship Megastar has already been LNG bunkered over 2 000 times in the harbor of Helsinki. In addition, Elenger started recently LNG bunkering of cargo ships at the port of Hanko.

Strong local management team

Elenger, known as Eesti Gaas in Estonia, has been eyeing the Finnish market for a long time and made strategic recruitments that prepare the company better for the local market in Finland.

Jarko Alanko was hired as an advisor for the company in the summer of 2018 and has worked as the CEO of Elenger Ltd since the start of the year. In addition, Pasi Näkki was hired in September for the CEO position of Elenger Marine Ltd. Pasi Näkki, who has worked previously as the executive vice president of Tallink Silja, is also a board member at Elenger Ltd.

The strong Finnish management team is completed with Pasi Moisio, who was appointed as the LNG sales leader at Elenger after serving as the head of clean energy solutions at Linde Group Finland. Pipeline gas sales director is Tuula Liukko, who has been working in leading positions internationall development and business development projects in Ramboll and Pöyry Finland. Furthermore, Elenger board member Kalev Reiljan brings valuable insights of the Finnish market after serving as the technological leader of Telia and the sales leader of Nokia before joining Elenger.

• The management of Eesti Gaas has made a great effort in building a strong management group for the local market. Previous experiences show that our customers value highly a local staff. Moisio and Näkki have backgrounds that brings us new opportunities for the local and global market, Alanko explains.

Pasi Näkki 

As the CEO of Elenger Marine Ltd, Pasi Näkki predicts that LNG will replace traditional diesel fuels in sea use.

• In addition to passenger ships, a growing number of cargo ships are also moving to use LNG as an energy source. In terms of efficiency and reduced pollution, LNG will replace diesel fuels in sea use, which will have positive implications for the quality of air and water in the Baltic Sea region.

Elenger is one of the largest energy companies who offers LNG-bunkering for cargo and passenger ships with a truck-to-ship delivery system. Elenger’s LNG bunkering offering will expand as the Dutch ship manufacturer Damen is currently building a new LNG vessel for Elenger. The Vessel is meant operate in the Baltic Sea and enable LNG bunkering at sea during year 2020.