VKG looking for more favorable oil shale purchase conditions.
Postimees Digest, Wednesday, September 4
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Oil shale chemistry company Viru Keemia Grupp (VKG) is not happy with the current 31 euros per ton price tag of oil shale it buys from national energy giant Eesti Energia and believes that at best the price could be one and a half times what the power plants pay, or in other words 20 euros per ton. Chairman of the board of VKG Priit Rohumaa said that because Eesti Energia controls the lion's share of oil shale mining rights, business relations are less than conventional in the sector. "Rather the Estonian state could take that money from us in taxes," Rohumaa said. "Eesti Energia is under no obligation to sell oil shale covered by permits. Such price contrasting is unfounded as the resource belongs to Eesti Energia. VKG is looking to secure rock for less than the value we can create when using licensed oil shale," said CEO of Eesti Energia Sandor Liive. Head of the Competition Board Märt Ots said that the agency will look into whether Eesti Energia is abusing its dominant position on the market but added that use of oil shale is actually a political matter and distribution of oil shale belongs in the administrative area of the environmental ministry. Priit Rohumaa believes the state should revisit the principles of oil shale mining by lifting the annual mining limit, making it possible for companies to invest in environmentally friendly extraction technologies, and separating mines from Eesti Energia so oil shale could be sold at auctions. Rohumaa explained that the current situation where there are four separate miners is ruinous for Estonia's oil shale reserves as companies only mine the most valuable part of deposits, leaving rock that is more expensive to unearth underground.
Parts sends critical letter to Baltic counterparts.
Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications has sent a letter to his Baltic colleagues criticizing them for failure to open the electricity market in the agreed upon volume. The economy minister wrote that the June electricity price spike was not in accordance with the actual market situation as a notable part of Latvian and Lithuanian producers are not bidding on the joint exchange. Because a considerable part of producers do not bid, it leads to periodic electricity deficits that in turn result in price spikes, the minister wrote. Parts added that Estonia is prepared to take restrictive measures on the Latvian border as concerns movement of electricity provided Latvia and Lithuania fail to take steps to liberalize the power market by forcing consumers to buy electricity from the exchange.