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What goes on in Poland on the 14th of October.
The Northern Gate is being built
According to the government plenipotentiary for strategic energy infrastructure, Piotr Naimski, the expansion of Poland’s gas connections with neighbors will enable deliveries to Hungary and Ukraine.
– For four years we have had the possibility of practical implementation of the strategy, which would seem to have been obvious for a long time, but in practice it turned out that it fails or is delayed, or even decisions are made that are in the way of this strategy, are an obstacle. The contracts signed by Waldemar Pawlak in 2010 are an example – said Naimski during the Nafta-Gaz-Chemia 2019 conference under the patronage of BiznesAlert.pl.
The first task set by Naimski is to make Poland independent of Gazprom’s dominance. – We are currently at a very good stage, which indicates that we will solve this issue by 2022. In 2022, the long-term contract with Gazprom expires. Gazprom’s management claimed that they could dictate any price because we had no alternative. It was the truth. We are building infrastructure that will give us the freedom of choice – summed up the minister. He reminded about plans to build the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline and expansion of the LNG terminal in Świnoujście.
– Pipes for the Baltic Pipe project were purchased by Energinet.dk. Compressors for compressor stations in Poland, necessary for forcing gas in the system, have also been bought. The construction site in Poland from Świnoujście to Przemyśl is visible and some sections are already completed. All this will be operational until 2022. So you can certainly say that the plan will be implemented. With this infrastructure, we will be able to use 16-17 billion cubic meters, available from the North with the Baltic Pipe or from the terminal in Świnoujście, together with our production, which we will maintain at the current level of 4 billion. In 2025, the FSRU floating terminal in Gdańsk will be ready, and it will enable the introduction of 4 billion cubic meters into the system – Naimski counted.
Trade with neighbors
– If we prolong what we are building in Poland, we will be able to send gas from Świnoujście or Niechorze through the Polish system, the Slovak system, to Hungary. This is an alternative gas transport route for Central Europe in relation to the existing two, i.e. the route through Germany, i.e. the OPAL gas pipeline, which is an extension of the Nord Stream, as well as the eastern route through Ukraine. We are building something that is in between and is independent of the political decision of Russia, but also Germany, because it turns out that their decisions are also political – he said. – The implementation of Polish-Slovak investments, with the existing Hungarian-Slovak connection, which is unused but ready for use, will cause that Hungarians, who are currently closed and have raw material supplies exclusively from Russia, will have a choice.
– We are ready to expand the connection with Ukraine. We are one and a half kilometers from the Ukrainian border. This project is obvious and will be implemented in 21 ′. The use of these connections will depend on the demand. This will be possible when we get hard contract, purchase or bandwidth declarations from partners. This possibility should be created – declared Minister Naimski.
