Finnish Gasum Plunges into 2020 Loss

Finnish state monopoly Gasum reported March 12 a loss of €9mn ($10.7mn) on its 2020 business, down from a profit of €94mn the year before. Revenues were down from €926mn to €664mn mainly owing to the fall in the sales price of gas. Operating expenses also rose, from €53mn to €134mn. It made a pre-tax loss of €9mn compared with a profit of €35.1mn in 2019.

CEO Johanna Lamminen said natural gas had a good future in industry and maritime transport as the Nordic countries are taking steps towards carbon-neutral societies. And despite Covid-19 there were no failures of business continuity. However the start-up of new projects was pushed back; new customer projects were delayed; and growth targets missed.

The year also saw Gasum continue the expansion of the Nordic gas filling station network serving heavy-duty vehicles and it opened eight new filling stations in the Nordic countries. It also entered a partnership with Singapore Pavilion Energy "to provide our shipping customers with a flexible service across an even more extensive geographical area."

The partnership enables Gasum to provide customers with liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the Singapore region and in northern Europe. Gasum also started regular deliveries of a fuel blend containing renewable liquefied biogas (LBG) to maritime transport customer Preem in Sweden.

Gasum bought a biogas plant in Skovde and took a final investment decision on an industrial-scale biogas plant in Gotene, also in Sweden. In Finland, the commercial use of the expanded Turku biogas plant – Finland's first plant producing LBG – began, and at the end of the year it put a biowaste in Vantaa into service.