Baltic Pipe Project

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Baltic Pipe Project is a gas pipeline running from Denmark to Poland. It transports gas from Norway to Poland, crossing via Danish, Swedish, and Polish economic zones.

Location

The project consists of five components:

• A new offshore gas pipeline, 105-110 kilometers long, from Norway’s pipeline Europipe II Gas Pipeline in the North Sea to a receiving terminal located North of Varde in Denmark
• Expansion of the Danish transmission system with a new gas pipeline, approximately 210-230 kilometers long, which will run between Egtved in Jutland and the South-eastern part of Zealand, with a compressor station in the South-eastern part of Zealand
• A new offshore gas pipeline, 260-310 kilometers long, in the Baltic Sea between Denmark and Poland. The pipeline will pass through Danish and Polish maritime areas, as well as the Swedish exclusive economic zone.
• An expansion of the Polish gas transmission system onshore tying into the Goleniów–Lwówek Gas Pipeline.

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Project details

Main Segment

• Operators: Energinet and GAZ-SYSTEM S.A.
• Owners: Energinet (50%) and GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. (50%)
• Owners: Energinet (50%) and GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. (50%)
• Proposed capacity: 10 billion cubic meters per year
• Length: 575-650 kilometers (average of estimates 612.5)
• Cost: €1.6 billion – €2.1 billion (US$1.79 billion – US$2.35 billion)
• Financing: Corporate financing from a consortium of commercial banks and up to €267 million in European Union grants via the Connecting Europe Facility
• Status: Operating
• Start year: 2022
• Identifiers:
  • ENTSOG 2022 TYNDP: TRA-F-780 (Baltic Pipe project – onshore section in Denmark), TRA-A-1173 (Poland - Denmark interconnection (Baltic Pipe) - onshore section in Poland), TRA-A-271 (Poland - Denmark interconnection (Baltic Pipe) - offshore section) and TRA-F-394 (Norwegian tie-in to Danish upstream system)
  • EU PCI: 8.3.2
  • SciGrid_gas IGG: INET_PL_9180, INET_PL_9181, INET_PL_9182, INET_PL_9183, INET_PL_9184, INET_PL_9185, INET_PL_9186, INET_PL_9187

Goleniów–Lwówek Gas Pipeline (Stage 1)

• Operator: Gaz-System
• Owner: Gaz-System
• Parent: Gaz-System
• Current capacity:
• Length: 122 km
• Diameter: 1000 mm
• Status: Operating
• Start year: 2022
• Associated Infrastructure: Świnoujście Polskie LNG Terminal

Goleniów–Lwówek Gas Pipeline (Stage 2)

• Operator: Gaz-System
• Owner: Gaz-System
• Parent: Gaz-System
• Current capacity:
• Length: 69 km
• Diameter: 1000 mm
• Status: Operating
• Start year: 2022
• Associated Infrastructure: Świnoujście Polskie LNG Terminal

Background

Main Segment

The Baltic Pipe is a proposed 650 kilometer (maximum) pipeline being developed by Energinet and Gaz-System with a 120km-long offshore natural gas pipeline portion that will be built between Rødvig, Denmark, and Niechorze, Poland. The final investment decision is scheduled to be reached in 2018, while the project's commission date is October 2022. The Baltic Pipe Project will allow transport of gas from Norway to the Danish and Polish markets, as well as to end-users in neighboring countries. At the same time, the Baltic Pipe Project will enable the supply of gas from Poland to Danish and Swedish markets.

In August of 2019, Poland's gas grid operator Gaz-System agreed to buy a set of compressor units for 550 million zlotys ($141 million) from U.S. company Solar Turbines for its planned link to Norway’s gas fields. Poland sees the Baltic Pipe as a way to diversify its gas supply, most of which is currently imported from Russia under a long-term contract with Gazprom that expires in 2022. The Baltic Pipe, as well as increased supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) via a Baltic Sea terminal at Świnoujście Polskie LNG Terminal, is designed to help Poland replace Russian gas deliveries. The project also provides Poland with an opportunity to become a central European gas hub.

Part of the project was approved as a Project of Common Interest (PCI) by the European Commission, meaning it will be eligible to receive public funding. The PCI portion of the project will be a total of 204 kilometers (200 onshore, 4 offshore), and 10 billion cubic meters/year.

In May 2020, the project achieved a complete set of construction permits following Sweden's approval for the pipeline to pass through 85 kilometres of the Swedish exclusive economic zone of the Baltic Sea. However, the planned October 2022 construction completion date may be delayed as the Baltic Pipe crosses both the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in Danish waters and requires the approval of the operators of both Nord Stream pipelines to do so. Approval from the Nord Stream 1 consortium is expected because it is owned by a consortium of Gazprom and EU-based companies, but approval from the Nord Stream 2 project may be more complicated as it is wholly-Gazprom operated.

In autumn 2020, construction work started to prepare the pipe landfalls in both Poland and Denmark. By the end of November it was reported that short sections of the pipeline had been laid on the east and west coasts of the Jutland peninsula.

In June 2021, a temporary halt was called on pipeline construction work in Denmark following the rescinding of an environmental permit by a Danish public appeals committee due to concerns over the pipeline's impact on protected mice and bat species. Several weeks later, Energinet said that construction work would resume on parts of the project but that construction at two locations in Denmark would be suspended until 2022, pending the issuance of a new environmental permit. As a result, Energinet said that it expected the overall project completion to be delayed by three months. Energinet estimated this delay will cost €80 million.

As of August 2021, the Three Seas Initiative expected the project to be commissioned in October 2022.

In November 2021, the final sea bed section of the pipeline offshore of Poland was completed.

In March 2022, Energinet announced that construction work on the Danish section of the pipeline was restarting after it had received a new environmental permit for the works. The company said that it still expected the pipeline to be partially operational from 1 October 1, 2022, and operating at full capacity from January 1, 2023.

Goleniów-Lwówek Gas Pipeline

The Goleniów–Lwówek segment of the pipeline will enable the off-take of an increased amount of gas from the Baltic Pipe offshore gas pipeline and the LNG Terminal in Świnoujście. According to Gaz-System as of January 2021, a complete set of construction permits for the project was obtained in February 2020, and work is underway related to the removal of trees and shrubs in private forests, dehumidification of the construction and assembly belt, the transport of cold-formed pipes and arches and the supply of basic building materials.

Construction was to be undertaken in two stages: Stage 1 would be from Goleniów to Ciecierzyce, and Stage 2 would be from Ciecierzyce to Lwówek.

In July 2021, Gaz System announced that "intensive works on the construction of Goleniów–Lwówek gas pipeline" had begun. It stated that "all pipes" included in Stage 1 "have already been strung and the entire route has been prepared for installation works. Already 75 km of pipes have been welded and 43 km of the pipeline has been laid in the trench." For Stage 2, the site had been prepared and "over 59% of pipes (total length of approx. 40 km) have been strung."

Commissioning

On 27 September 2022, the pipeline was opened, though not at full capacity. On 30 November 2022, Energinet, the Danish partner in the project, announced that the target transmission capacity of up to 10 bcm/y had been achieved following the completion of construction work in Denmark.

Financing

In June 2020, the Financial Times reported that the project promoters were confident of securing financing for the project, with Gaz-System in talks with about 15 banks over the financing of its investment programme, which includes its share of the Baltic Pipe costs. Overall funding from European Union grants could rise to up to €267 million. In April 2019 Poland received a €214.9 million grant from the EU's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) to help build its portion of the pipeline. The project was earlier awarded three CEF grants for a feasibility study and preparatory works: €387,374 in 2015; €33,149,601 in 2017; €18,300,000 in 2018.

The international law firm Norton Rose Fulbright disclosed in July 2020 that it had advised a consortium of ten banks on the US$ 1.4 billion financing for Gaz-System which will be used as a stable source of funding for projects by the company to implement its 2020-2025 investment strategy, including the Baltic Pipe and the expansion of the Świnoujście Polskie LNG Terminal. The banks involved in the financing are: Alior Bank S.A., Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, Bank Millennium S.A., Bank of China (Luxembourg) S.A. Oddział w Polsce, BNP Paribas Bank Polska S.A., CaixaBank, S.A. (Spółka Akcyjna) Oddzial w Polsce, China Construction Bank (Europe) S.A. (Spółka Akcyjna) Oddział w Polsce, Credit Agricole Bank Polska S.A., mBank S.A. and Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności Bank Polski S.A.

Technical Details

The Baltic Pipeline will include the following:

• A 105-110 kilometer long, new offshore gas pipeline from Norway’s Europipe II Gas Pipeline in the North Sea to a receiving terminal located North of Varde in Denmark.
• Expansion of the Danish transmission system with a new gas pipeline, approximately 210-230 kilometers long, which will run between Egtved in Jutland and the South-eastern part of Zealand.
• A compressor station in the South-eastern part of Zealand.
• A 260-310 kilometer long offshore gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea between Denmark and Poland.
• An onshore section in Poland
  • including an approximately 82 km gas pipeline connecting the Baltic Pipe with the Goleniów-Lwówek Gas Pipeline

Contractors

In July of 2019, DNV GL won a major contract to provide independent verification services for the Danish transmission system operator Energinet’s section of the Baltic Pipe project, offshore Denmark. DNV GL’s contract includes independent verification and submarine pipeline certification to the DNV GL certification regime DNVGL-SE-0475. The acceptance criteria are the Danish Continental Shelf Law, DNVGL-ST-F101 and the suite of underlying DNV GL standards and recommended practices. The work will take place during the engineering, procurement, construction, installation, hook-up and commissioning phases of pipeline development over the next three years.

In August of 2019, Energinet contracted Corinth Pipeworks to supply offshore linepipe for the project. Corinth Pipeworks will manufacture 114 km (71 mi) of 32-inch and 36-inch SAWL steel pipes (43,000 tons in total) with a three-layer polyethylene anti-corrosion coating, epoxy lining for flow assurance, and concrete weight coating with sacrificial anodes and bends. Deliveries are due to start in late-2019 and continue through 2021, when the pipes will be laid through Danish waters.

In April 2020, Gaz-System signed a contract with Italian construction company Saipem to lay the offshore pipeline, with work expected to start in the second half of 2020.

Opposition

In July 2020, activists from the Baltic Pipe Nej Tak campaign occupied one of the project's pre-construction sites. Baltic Pipe Nej Tak (‘Baltic Pipe No Thanks!’) is a campaign platform for the wide movement against new fossil infrastructure, and is specifically focused on opposing construction of the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline. The campaign post updates on their actions to their Facebook page.

Protesters in Copenhagen march against the proposed Baltic Pipe in Jan. 2020

Danish activists' protest against the proposed Baltic Pipe project, July 2020