The 72-kilometre pipeline, which runs through Poland’s Podkarpackie province near Slovakia and Ukraine, cost around PLN 350 million (EUR 77 million, USD 84 million) to build, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported on Monday.
Of this, nearly PLN 150 million came from European Union coffers as part of the bloc’s Infrastructure and Environment Operational Programme, officials have said.
The new link, known as the Hermanowice-Strachocina Gas Pipeline, is part of what is known as the north-south corridor, an initiative aiming to increase energy security in Poland and its region.
The North-South Gas Corridor is expected to connect the Polish Baltic port of Świnoujście with a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Croatia via the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, the IAR news agency reported.
The Hermanowice-Strachocina gas link also comes as part of a plan to build a new pipeline from Poland to Ukraine, according to officials.
Meanwhile, Polish gas grid operator Gaz-System said last week it had obtained a complete set of permits needed to build the undersea Baltic Pipe gas pipeline between Denmark and Poland.
That massive project, co-financed by the EU, is part of Warsaw’s efforts to diversify gas supplies and reduce the country’s energy dependence on Russia.
Piotr Naimski, the Polish government's pointman on strategic energy infrastructure, said last year that Poland would stop buying Russian gas after its long-term supply contract with Russia’s Gazprom expires in 2022.
(gs/pk)
Source: IAR, gaz-system.pl