Key section of gas pipeline linking Poland to Norway completed ahead of schedule

A key section of a pipeline that will bring Norwegian gas to Poland via Denmark has been declared ready for use more than 30 days ahead of schedule. The project, known as the Baltic Pipe, is a central part of the Polish government’s efforts to make the country independent of Russian energy imports.

Gaz-System, Poland’s gas infrastructure operator, announced on Wednesday that a 191-kilometre section of the pipeline – its longest onshore element – has passed the necessary tests and is ready for gasification.

The stretch in question runs from the northwestern town of Goleniów – near where the Baltic Pipe will come ashore – to Lwówek in west-central Poland, 50 kilometres from Poznań.

The Baltic Pipe is scheduled to become operational on 1 October with an initial capacity of 2-3 billion cubic metres (bmc) of gas per year. In 2023 it is expected to reach its full capacity of 10 bcm of gas per year.

There had been some concerns that the planned autumn 2022 completion date might have to be pushed back after work in Denmark was halted following the withdrawal of an environmental permit. But those problems have now been overcome and the project remains on schedule.

The route of the Baltic Pipe (Lemiel/Wikimedia Commons, under CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Polish government has long planned to wean the country off Russian gas, including by not renewing its contract with Gazprom when it expires at the end of this year.

Those plans were accelerated by the invasion of Ukraine, which prompted Poland to declare its intention to end all Russian energy imports this year. Subsequently, Gazprom cut off gas exports to Poland after Warsaw refused to switch payments to roubles.

As well as the new pipeline from Norway, the government has also sought to boost imports of liquefied natural gas from Qatar and the United States. It recently announced that a new floating LNG terminal in Gdańsk will be twice as big as previously planned.

Main photo credit: Gaz System press pack

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.