Baltic Pipe Secures First Permit

Baltic Pipe has secured its first permit, Polish TSO Gaz-System announced May 16.

The Polish onshore section of the route, which will ship gas to the central European country from the Norwegian shelf via Denmark, was granted “a location decision” by the region of Wielkopolska in north-west Poland May 15, the company said. Polish officials have said they hope to launch construction in mid-2020.

“This is the first location decision for the project under the Baltic Pipe program,” Gaz-System noted.

The 10bn m³/yr line, which will complement the Swinoujscie LNG terminal in the same corner of the country, is planned to allow Poland to reduce its reliance on Russian imports, or even drop them altogether when the pair's long-term contract expires in 2022, although that appears ambitious. Gaz-System and Danish partner Energinet signed off on €215mn in EU funding for Baltic Pipe in April.

The permit is one of three needed for the construction of the 191-km Goleniow-Lwowek gas pipeline, that will expand the capacity of the network connections to Baltic Pipe and Swinoujscie. Licences are yet to be issued by the Zachodniopomorskie and Lubuskie regions.

Baltic Pipe consists of a further four sections that will feature new and existing pipelines across Denmark and new links beneath the Baltic and North Seas.