Leaders from Poland, Norway and Denmark have attended a ceremony marking the opening of the new Baltic Pipe, a key stage in weaning Poland and Europe off Russian gas.
The pipeline will transport natural gas from the Norwegian shelf to Poland via Denmark and the Baltic Sea. It is at the heart of a Polish strategy to diversify away from Russia that began years before Moscow invaded Ukraine in February, sparking a global energy crisis.
Flows from Norway and deliveries via LNG terminals are at the heart of the Polish plan. The country was cut off from Russian gas supplies in April, allegedly for refusing to pay in rubles.
“The era of Russian dominance in the gas sector is coming to an end, the era marked by blackmail, threats and blackmail,” said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at the inauguration in Budno, western Poland.
Norway’s Energy Minister Terje Aasland said this was “an important step on the important road to Europe’s independence from Russian energy”.
“We must do everything to eliminate energy as a Russian tool of power,” added Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. “Together we will defeat Putin.”
The inauguration came after Danish and Swedish authorities identified several Gas leaks from Russia-operated Nord Stream pipelinesleading to fears of sabotage.
The Danish system operator Energinet announced this at the weekend that the Baltic Pipe connection could be put into operation at full capacity a month earlier thanks to good construction progress in Denmark. She postpones the planned date to the end of November instead of January 1st.
Construction work in Denmark had been suspended for nine months for environmental reasons, but resumed last March.
“Thanks to the extraordinary commitment of everyone involved, we were able to lay the remaining pipelines faster than expected. Full commissioning can therefore take place ahead of schedule,” said Torben Brabo, Director of International Relations at Energinet.
“Baltic Pipe is part of a larger Polish strategy to end dependence on Russian gas flowing through the Yamal pipeline. It was a cornerstone of the plan. Of course, the fact that it’s being completed earlier than expected comes at good time, as Poland isn’t getting the gas it used to be,” Trine Villumsen told Berling, senior researcher on global security at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS). euronews.
“However, it has always been the Polish plan to stop using Russian gas when the contract with Gazprom expires by the end of 2022,” she added.
Poland’s Energy Infrastructure Minister Mateusz Berger said Saturday the completion means Poland will receive twice as much gas as originally expected in the final quarter of the year.
Norway’s Equinor announced on Friday that it had struck a 10-year agreement to sell natural gas to Poland’s PGNiG in a deal worth 2.4 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year, or around 15% of Poland’s covers annual consumption. The Baltic Pipe has an annual capacity of 10 billion m³.
The deal with Equinor complements Poland’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, domestic production and potential imports via interconnectors with its neighbors ahead of the coming winter. PGNiG said in a statement last week that it had secured its gas supplies for the winter heating season.
end of August and Gas interconnector between Poland and Slovakia put into operation — an important part of the north-south gas infrastructure corridor between the Baltic Sea, the Adriatic and Aegean Seas, the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea.
“This interconnector will significantly improve the EU’s security of supply and the resilience of our energy system,” said EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson. The EU funded more than 100 million euros or about 40% of the project costs.
Analysts say the new Baltic Pipe should have benefits for countries outside of Poland.
“The Baltic Pipe will also be important for the Baltic States. You can get gas through GIPL – Gas Interconnector Poland Lithuania, just like Poland has been getting gas from Lithuania since April,” said Trine Villumsen Berling.
“The corridor is also suitable for transporting gas from Poland to the Danish market, which further increases the flexibility and security of energy supply in the region,” said DIIS Energy assessment published in July.
It highlighted that Poland and Lithuania had been at the forefront of calls for “greater EU unity and tougher sanctions on Russian fossil fuels.”
“Although a number of strategic projects in the Polish and Lithuanian energy sectors are taking shape today, they are the result of the two states’ long-term strategic visions of energy independence in Moscow’s grasp,” the report reads.