What goes on in Poland on the 25th of February.
The first reading on the Baltic Pipe agreement in the Sejm
Almost unanimously, the Sejm adopted a resolution to ratify the agreement with Denmark on Baltic Pipe on Thursday. Only two deputies were against, one abstained.
At 431 voters, 428 opted for a law that authorizes the president to ratify an international agreement with the Kingdom of Denmark, creating the necessary legal framework for the Baltic Pipe project and dividing tasks between investors.
The contract is needed
– This act is necessary for the legal framework of the gas pipeline between Poland and Denmark – Baltic Pipe. The Polish Gaz-System is responsible for the beginning of the gas pipeline from Denmark to Poland. Danish Energinet.dk is responsible for the Baltic Pipe section from the west. To ensure the ownership of the episode, which was implemented by the Polish Gaz-System, an intergovernmental agreement was needed. It was also necessary for the Energy Regulatory Office to take over its section, which extends beyond the territory of Poland – said Piotr Naimski, government plenipotentiary for strategic energy infrastructure.
– The part built by Gaz-System passes through Denmark twice. In order to be able to provide Gaz-System with the ownership of this section, an intergovernmental agreement was needed. The possibility of derogation within the Kingdom of Denmark from Danish legislation in favor of Gaz-System has been included and these derogations have already taken place. On the Danish side, this agreement is not required to be ratified by the parliament, it has already been approved. The Polish-Danish agreement is an element of the construction of the Baltic Pipe, which will end with the construction of the entire gas pipeline (Norwegian Corridor – ed.) in the autumn of 2022. A similar agreement between Denmark and Norway has already been concluded. This, together with formal investment decisions and EU funds for the construction of the undersea section, makes the project on the way to implementation – said the minister.
Project assumptions
The Baltic Pipe pipeline is to connect the Polish gas transmission system with deposits on the North Sea Norwegian Shelf across Denmark. The capacity of the submarine gas pipeline connecting the Norwegian deposits with Poland is to amount to 10 billion cubic meters annually. The goal is to launch the connection before the end of 2022, when the Yamal contract for gas supplies to Poland from the eastern direction expires.
The design of the Norwegian Corridor involves the construction of five elements:
– construction on the Danish side of a „tie-in” to the Norwegian transmission system in the North Sea, which will connect Denmark with Norway and enable the transfer of raw material;
– expansion of existing transmission capacity in Denmark from west to east;
– construction of a gas connection between Poland and Denmark (Baltic Pipe);
– construction of a gas compressor station on the Danish coast;
– expansion of the Polish transmission system.