OREANDA-NEWS. January 31, 2014. According to the Finnish Ministry of the Economy, representatives of Estonia, Finland and the European Commission have agreed to decide on the location of the LNG terminal and the fate of the Balticconnector pipeline by the end of February.

According to uudised.err.ee, whch spoke to the Finnish ministry, the two nations could not agree on the location of the terminal, and asked the European Commission to intervene, which in turn said Estonia and Finland should come to a decision between themselves.

According to a neutral study, three locations in the two nations would be suitable, and both Finland and Estonia have each said they would like the terminal to be built on their shores.

The EU is willing to underwrite most of the 500 million euro cost of the project for the purpose of making the region's gas markets more independent of one large supplier - Gazprom.

Estonia's Minister of Economic Affairs Juhan Parts recently proposed a idea to build two smaller terminals, eliminating the immediate need for an expensive pipeline, but was shot down by his own prime minister, who said that the Balticconnector gas pipeline is strategically important and cannot be sacrificed.