Bloomberg: Lithuania Advances Polish Gas Link After EU Prioritizes Project

Lithuania plans to move ahead with a 558 million-euro ($767 million) project linking the Baltic natural gas transmission grid with the rest of Europe via Poland after the European Union gave it priority status.

The EU included the link in the list of common-interest energy projects published earlier this month, which means the pipeline is eligible for as much as 75 percent financing by the 28-nation bloc, Lithuania’s Energy Ministry in the capital Vilnius said today in an e-mailed statement. Progress in talks with Poland also means territorial planning can now start, the ministry said.

The new Polish connector, along with planned liquefied natural gas terminals in the Baltic region, will help Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia escape current total dependence on Russia’s Gazprom OAO (GAZP) for natural gas supplies. It’s also part of EU plans for a north-south gas corridor across central and eastern Europe linking the Baltic, Black, Adriatic and Aegean Seas.  MORE