New Gas Corridor to be Constructed between Poland and Ukraine
A new gas corridor, named the “North-South” corridor, will make it possible for gas to be transported from a Polish gas port in Świnoujście to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The Polish gas pipelines, Lwówek–Odolanów and Hermanowice–Strachocina, that will be constructed by the State “Gaz System” are critical parts of the gas corridor “North-South.”
Among other things, this corridor will provide the opportunity to pump liquefied natural gas, delivered to the Polish gas port in Świnoujście, to Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Radio Svoboda reported that the cost of these gas pipelines is about $250 million. The project is partially financed by the European Union. Construction is expected to be completed in late 2018.
The new gas corridor will allow an increase in gas supplies from Poland to Ukraine and, if required, from Ukraine to Poland by 8 billion cubic meters of gas a year. Last December, Poland received the first tanker with liquefied natural gas from Qatar at the Świnoujście gas port. Poland believes that this satisfies the need for the diversification of energy imports they are facing in negotiations with Gazprom.
The Al-Nuaman tanker delivered the first 200,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (though a total of about 120 million cubic meters of natural gas is expected.) Alexey Dzikovitskiy, Radio Svoboda correspondent reported that in the second half of this year, such deliveries will become regular.
As Obozrevatel reported, on the 30th of December, the Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree discounting the price of gas sold to Ukraine during the first quarter of 2016. The price will now be about $178 per cubic meter.