Contacts and information for the media

When completed, the Keminmaa filling station will be the first gas filling station in Finnish Lapland, Gasum’s northernmost filling station and the northernmost liquefied biogas (LBG) filling station in Europe. Gasum recently opened its second northernmost station in Luleå, Sweden.

The Keminmaa station will provide both liquefied and compressed biogas, thereby serving heavy-duty transport and passenger car drivers. The station is located in the new Rajakangas industrial park on the E8 Oulu-Tornio road in the immediate vicinity of the Rovaniemi junction.

The station is ideally placed to serve traffic heading for Rovaniemi and Tornio as well has traffic to Sweden. The Keminmaa station has received funding from the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility. 

Aiming to expand further northward

When completed, the Keminmaa station will be Gasum’s northernmost gas filling station to date, but the plan is to further improve availability in Lapland.

“Gasum aims to expand its filling station network even further northward and enable transport with biogas and gas motoring in Lapland. The Keminmaa station will serve long-haul transport in the north and enable growing numbers of logistics providers to switch to biogas-powered transport,” says Juho Kurra, Head of Business, Traffic Finland at Gasum.

The lifecycle emissions of biogas are 90% lower on average compared to traditional fossil fuels. Biogas is a cost-effective fuel for heavy-duty transport and an effective way for logistics companies to cut emissions today. Logistics and transport companies play a key role in cutting Finland’s road traffic emissions.

Biogas already now accounts for almost all the gas sold by Gasum as a transport fuel for all vehicle segments in Finland. Gasum’s strategic goal is to bring 7 TWh of renewable gas yearly to market by 2027. This would mean annual savings of 1.8 million tonnes in carbon dioxide emissions for Gasum’s customers.

You can find all Gasum's filling stations on the map on our website

Vieremän Lämpö ja Vesi Oy is a company owned by the municipality of Vieremä and includes district heat, water and sewage treatment plants. District heat in the municipality is produced almost entirely with renewable biofuels.

The municipality of Vieremä has a biogas-based project under construction, where the first phase will involve a reception terminal for liquefied and compressed biogas, a backup biogas-fired power plant and a gas filling station serving transport. In addition, biogas can be used by industry and for electricity generation in Vieremä.

Gasum will supply the biogas to the terminal in liquefied form, meaning LBG. Gasum produces biogas in its own 17 biogas plants in Finland and Sweden and buys it from certified Nordic and European suppliers.

The LBG will be regasified so that it can also be compressed into CBG, which is suitable for refueling gas-powered passenger cars. The plan is for the terminal to be in use in early autumn, and the gas filling station will also open for everyone at the same time.

Aiming to create a biogas ecosystem

The project aims to create a biogas ecosystem in Vieremä. In practice, the introduction of biogas will increase security of supply, replace the use of heavy fuel oil in backup power production and allow industry in Vieremä to switch from using fossil gas to using biogas.

Vieremä also wants to create a market for locally produced biogas, which will pave the way for investments in biogas production as a new business for farms in the region. The goal is to switch to using biogas produced by local farms in the biogas terminal in stages as investments get underway.

In addition, the project will make biogas available as an alternative vehicle fuel for local residents and businesses. The project also means that the municipality of Vieremä will switch to using biogas-fueled vehicles in its own operations and in outsourced services.

Vieremä is a municipality in the North Savo region in eastern Finland and has a population of around 3,500. Vieremä is home to a lot of metal industry, but also, for example, concrete products manufacturing. Ponsse, a large manufacturer of forestry machinery, has its headquarters and factory in Vieremä.

The lifecycle emissions of biogas are 90% lower on average compared to traditional fossil fuels. Gasum’s strategic goal is to bring 7 TWh of renewable biogas yearly to market by 2027. This would mean annual savings of 1.8 million tonnes in carbon dioxide emissions for Gasum’s customers.

More information:

Dan Strengell, Commericial Sales Manager, Gasum
+358 50 352 9901, dan.strengell@gasum.com

Mikko Kajanus, CEO, Vieremän Lämpö ja Vesi
+358 400 370 112, mikko.kajanus@vierema.fi

Gasum has had a long-term pipeline natural gas supply contract with Russian Gazprom Export. In April 2022, Gazprom Export presented Gasum with a demand that the payments agreed in the supply contract should be paid in rubles instead of euros. Gasum did not accept this demand. In addition, the companies had a significant disagreement regarding certain other demands made based on the contract. Due to these reasons, Gasum referred the matter to arbitration in accordance with the supply contract.

In November 2022, the arbitral tribunal issued an award in the matter. According to the award, Gasum was not obligated to pay in rubles nor through the proposed payment procedure. Furthermore, the arbitral tribunal ordered Gasum and Gazprom Export to continue their bilateral contract negotiations to resolve the situation.

The negotiations between Gasum and Gazprom Export have now ended. The parties were not able to resolve the situation within the period defined by the arbitral tribunal and therefore, Gasum has terminated the long-term natural gas supply contract with Gazprom Export on May 22, 2023.

The parties will continue to finalize the details of the contract termination. Gasum will not comment on these details of the contract termination.

Gazprom Export ceased the pipeline natural gas deliveries to Gasum in May 2022 and there has not been any pipeline natural gas deliveries from Russia since then. The termination concerns only the pipeline gas supply contract. The long-term LNG supply contract Gasum has with Gazprom Export remains in place.