The Baltic Pipe system will transfer gas between Norway, Denmark and Poland. According to Gaz-System chairman Tomasz Stępień, the planning stages of the Baltic Pipe have been completed.
Sources state that clearance is to be given by April 2020, and the aim is to finish the pipeline by the Fall of 2022, just before the end of Poland’s gas agreement with Russia.
According to Salon24.pl, the Baltic Pipe is an ambitious project. It is meant to be made up of five elements, passing through all three participating countries. It starts with a connection between the Norwegian and Danish gas systems in the North Sea. Then, the development of the transit line in Denmark, followed by the construction of a gas compression station on the Danish island of Zealand. Finally, a pipeline between Denmark and Poland will be built and Poland’s gas transmission system developed.
At the end of 2017, the European Commission ratified a list of energy projects, which will allow easier access to EU funding. The Baltic Pipe appears on this list, and this additional funding will allow the completion of the project in 2022.
The Baltic Pipe is not a new idea, as it had first been proposed by the Polish government of Jerzy Buzek in 1999-2001. However, the next government, that of Leszek Miller and the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) terminated preparations of the plans. Only recently, in 2016 during Beata Szydło’s Law and Justice (PiS) government, did the project resurface.
The Baltic Pipe is also an opportunity to further gas transmissions to other Central and Eastern European countries. Poland is currently negotiating with its Southern neighbors the topic of developing their gas systems on a North-South route.
