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Key onshore section of Baltic Pipe gas link cleared for service: officials

11.07.2022 18:00
A key onshore section of the undersea Baltic Pipe gas pipeline, which is expected to connect Poland with Norwegian gas fields via Denmark, has been cleared for service, officials have announced.
Photo:
Photo:PAP/Paweł Supernak

Poland's natural gas network operator Gaz-System "has completed technical acceptance of 41 km of the Niechorze-Płoty gas pipeline, i.e. the main part of the section connecting the offshore gas pipeline Baltic Pipe to the national transmission system," officials said in a Twitter message on Monday.

Gaz-System said that "thanks to good cooperation, the project will be completed on schedule, i.e. by October 1."

An earlier post said last month that the "Goleniów-Lwówek section," the longest onshore section of the Baltic Pipe in Poland, was "ready for commissioning and gas filing."

The Baltic Pipe, which is part of Warsaw’s efforts to diversify gas supplies and end the country’s energy dependence on Russia, is due to be launched in October to operate at an initial capacity of 2 to 3 billion cubic metres per year, and at full capacity from the end of 2022.

It is ultimately expected to have the capacity to carry 10 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Norway to Poland via Denmark annually.

Russia’s energy giant Gazprom in April suspended gas deliveries to Poland after the country refused to pay in Russian roubles amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, according to officials.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters that his country had sufficient reserves and alternative supply routes after Russia said it was suspending gas supplies to Poland under a long-term contract.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said in April that Gazprom's decision to stop delivering gas to European customers was "yet another attempt by Russia to use gas as an instrument of blackmail."

Polish President Andrzej Duda in 2019 described the Baltic Pipe as “a strategic project for Poland’s energy transformation, as well as for the energy security of the entire Central and Eastern Europe region.”

(gs)

Source: IAR, PAP