Finland will support energy companies amid the shutdown of Nord Stream

HELSINKI, Sep 4 – PRIME The Finnish government wants to support energy companies amid the shutdown of the Nord Stream and provide them with ten billion euros as state guarantees. Prime Minister Sanna Marin spoke about this.

“The government is proposing a €10 billion government loan and guarantee program for electricity generation companies in Finland,” she said during a briefing.

As explained, the program will operate until the end of next year, the maturity of loans will be up to two years. In this case, the initiative must be approved by the Finnish Parliament.

Previously, similar support measures were taken by the Swedish authorities, having allocated 250 billion Swedish kronor to their energy companies, which is equivalent to 23 billion dollars.

According to some media reports, Finnish authorities fear that electricity prices will jump after the resumption of trading on the stock exchange on Monday and businesses will need large sums to guarantee supplies.

Gazprom has stopped Nord Stream indefinitely after a three-day maintenance due to a malfunction of the only working turbine. Siemens said it “took note” of the reported malfunctions, but believes that Gazprom’s conclusion is not a technical reason for shutting down the gas pipeline.

Since June, fuel pumping through this line has been reduced due to difficulties in returning gas turbines from repair due to anti-Russian sanctions. First, deliveries were reduced to 40% of the maximum capacity of the pipe, and then to 20%.