Baltic Pipe Files Route Permit Applications

Polish national gas transmission operator Gaz-System said January 30 it has applied to the authorities for permits relating to laying the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline project offshore.

It said the documents submitted January 24-25 to Poland's maritime economy and inland shipping ministry, and to the maritime offices in Szczecin and Słupsk in northwest Poland, are for administrative decisions regarding the terms of laying and maintaining Baltic Pipe, and pertain to 1 km wide survey corridors delineated for three alternative gas pipeline routes within Polish maritime territory. 

Under the procedures, the route of the gas pipeline needs to be agreed with a number of institutions, including energy, economy, environment, fishery, culture, and defence ministries, and will assessed by the Rewal, Trzebiatow and Mielno district councils, where the onshore section of the gas pipeline is planned.

The corridors indicated in the location permits will be subject to in-depth surveys including environmental, technological and social analyses, said Gaz-System, adding they will serve as a basis for selection of the final optimum route of the pipeline and development of a construction design. Until surveys and analyses are complete, all route variants will be treated equally. When permits are issued, that does not mean the project has reached final approval, as the investor Baltic Pipe will then need to get a decision on environmental conditions, a location decision for the gas pipeline corridor and a construction permit.

Gaz-System is implementing the overall Baltic Pipe project with its Danish gas grid counterpart Energinet, although Gaz-System is responsible for permitting and works in and offshore Poland. The project, which would provide direct access to Norway’s gas fields, is projected to be 600-800 km long, start operating by late 2022, cost kroner 12bn-16bn ($1.8bn-2.4bn), and have capacity of up to 10bn m³/yr.

BalticPipe planned route (Map credit: Gaz-System)

Update Jan.31 2018:

Denmark's foreign ministry said last month it "welcomes a re-start of the negotiations [with Poland] and looks forward to the first meetings to take place early next year" [meaning 1Q2018]  It added: "The disputed area is approximately 3,600 km². It is the last outstanding delimitation in the area of Bornholm. Maritime boundaries between Bornholm and Sweden were settled in 1984 and between Bornholm and Germany in 1988."