The two companies plan to invest 1 billion kronor ($158.2 million) in total in the terminal, which is scheduled to start operating in 2015, Saila Horttanainen, a spokeswoman for the Swedish gas-grid owner, said today by telephone. The companies will have equal ownership of the terminal, she said. Swedegas is controlled by private equity fund EQT Infrastructure.

Tougher EU rules on sulphur emissions will start applying in the Baltic Sea in 2015, forcing shipping companies to switch to fuels that comply with the standards or install so-called scrubbers, which clean exhaust.

Gothenburg is the largest port in the Nordic region, with about 11,000 annual calls by vessels, and handles one third of Sweden’s foreign trade. Swedegas said it also plans to add an LNG terminal in the Port of Gaevle, north of Stockholm.

“While the project has advanced further in Gothenburg than in Gaevle we can work on both at the same time,” Horttanainen said. “We’re also looking at Tornedalen, where LKAB is an interesting potential client.”

Lund, Sweden-based Alfa Laval AB (ALFA) received the first order for its PureSOx scrubber to be fitted in a vessel in the fourth quarter 2012.