The pipeline, which is part of Warsaw’s efforts to diversify gas supplies and reduce the country’s energy dependence on Russia, will be launched in October next year to operate at an initial capacity of 2 to 3 billion cubic meters per year, Piotr Naimski, the Polish government's pointman on strategic energy infrastructure, said on Monday.
He added that the Baltic Pipe would begin to operate at full capacity from the end of 2022.
“The Baltic Pipe … will replace supplies from Russia, depriving Russia of its ability to put political pressure on Poland,” Naimski told a press conference.
The Baltic Pipe is ultimately expected to have the capacity to carry 10 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Norway to Poland via Denmark annually.
The Polish president in 2019 described the pipeline as “a strategic project for Poland’s energy transformation, as well as for the energy security of the entire Central and Eastern Europe region.”
Poland’s annual gas usage is estimated at around 17 billion cubic metres, of which half is imported from Russia’s gas giant Gazprom under a contract expiring in December 2022.
(jh/gs)
Source: PAP