Poland decides to build its own gas pipeline in Baltic Sea
Poland, which opposes the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, intends to build its own gas pipeline along the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper reported that the Baltic Pipe project will run from the Polish coast to Denmark, and will allow the state-owned Polish gas transportation company Gaz-System to connect to Norway’s gas pipeline network.
The newspaper notes that in late 2017, the Polish energy company PGNiG reserved the gas pipeline’s capacity for 15 years. The gas pipeline branch, which will have a capacity of 10 billion cubic meters per annum and be valued at $2 billion, should be operational by 2022. It will reach the Polish coast near the town of Świnoujście, where the liquefied gas terminal is also located.
The company Gaz-System, according to its own data, has asked the Polish government for permission to build and identify a kilometric corridor in the coastal zone, along which it plans to build the gas pipeline. A final decision regarding its construction should be reached in 2018.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson previously said that Washington and Warsaw share the view that Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project undermines European security and energy stability and gives Russia an instrument of political pressure.