Poland’s €1.1 billion natural gas pipeline plans

According to Poland’s state-owned gas transmission monopoly Gaz-System, the country is planning to invest €1.1 billion (US$ 1.4 billion) from 2014 in a gas pipeline network linking a new Baltic LNG terminal at Swinoujscie to its Czech, Slovak and Ukrainian neighbours.

“In five years we want to build 940 km of natural gas pipelines to transfer gas from Swinoujscie up to the Czech, Slovak and Ukrainian borders,” Gaz-System Spokeswoman Malgorzata Polkowska said recently.

“The investment is worth 4.5 billion zloty (€1.1 billion, US$ 1.4 billion)” Polkowska added of the decision, seen as key to advancing energy security by reducing the region’s dependence on natural gas pumped in from Russia.

Gaz-System is currently constructing Poland’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, which is to come online in June 2014. The terminal is designed to have a capacity of 7.5 billion m³/yr of gas.

“The new north-south network will allow the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine to use gas delivered to Swinoujscie,” Polkowska said.

Gaz-System has confirmed that funding from the EU will co-finance the project.

The company’s plans also involve a pipeline from Swinoujscie to Lithuania, an EU member which is currently heavily dependent on Russian natural gas.

In 2014, the company will finish a five year, €1.95 billion project covering 1000 km of pipelines connecting the Swinoujscie port LNG terminal to Czech and German gas transmission systems.

Edited from various sources by Cecilia Rehn.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/13022013/poland%E2%80%99s_11_billion_euros_natural_gas_pipeline_plans/