Poland-Ukraine Interconnector Gas Pipeline

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Poland-Ukraine Interconnector Gas Pipeline is a proposed gas pipeline in Poland and Ukraine.

Location

The pipeline runs Hermanowice, Poland to Bliche Volytsia UGS, Ukraine.

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Project Details

• Operator: GAZ-SYSTEM S.A., PJSC UKRTRANSGAZ
• Owner: GAZ-SYSTEM S.A., PJSC UKRTRANSGAZ
• Parent Company: Polish State, NJSC Naftagaz of Ukraine
• Proposed capacity: 4.5 billion cubic meters per year
• Length: 100 km / 62 mi
  • Ukrainian Section: 99 km / 61.5 mi
  • Polish Section: 1.5 km / .93 mi

• Diameter: 700, 1000 mm

• Capacity:
  • Poland-Ukraine Direction: 8 bcm/y
  • Ukraine-Poland Direction: 7 bcm/y
• Status: Proposed
• Start Year: 2022
• Cost: €365 million (US$381.34 million)
• Associated Infrastructure:
• Identifiers
  • ENTSOG 2020 TYNDP:
    • Ukrainian Section: TRA-A-561
    • Polish Section: TRA-A-621

Background

An international cooperation agreement between Poland and Ukraine for the engineering and construction works of the project was signed in December 2016.

The Poland Ukraine Interconnector Pipeline would transport 5 billion cubic meters per year. In September 2019 it was reported that Ukraine, Poland, and the United States had signed a cooperation agreement aimed at achieving greater energy independence for Ukraine; it was also reported that the Poland Ukraine Interconnector would transport 4.5 bcm and would be completed by 2021. However, as of August 28, 2019, Energy Community is reporting that the project's expected commissioning is in 2022. Documentation published by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) in November 2020 notes for the project that "The dialogue between the TSOs [Transmission System Operators] of both countries is ongoing in order to establish grounds for taking the positive FID [final investment decision] for implementation of the PL-UA interconnection. Therefore, launching of the construction works is postponed until the FID is taken." Energy-Community's website, as of September 2021, states the "FID was not taken yet."

As of May 2021, the Eastern Europe Natural Gas Partnership (EE-NGP) expected the pipeline to be commissioned in 2022. According to EE-NGP's Catalogue of Gas Infrastructure Investments, the Polish section of the pipeline has a length of 99 km while the Ukrainian section has a length of 72 km. This disagrees with the lengths ENTSOG and other news reports state of 1.5 and 99 km respectively. The project description on the 3seas website explains that this incongruency is due to the fact that the Polish section of this interconnector is the already operational Hermanowice-Strachocina Gas Pipeline, which will connect to this pipeline when built.

In a June 2021 media interview, Gaz-System's president Tomasz Stępień described the commercial issues which were hampering an investment decision and progress with the project: "Ukrainians signal, mainly in the media, that they want to import up to 6 billion cubic meters natural gas annually from Poland. Such amounts of gas require additional investments on the Polish side in the gas transmission system and the construction of the compressor station in Strachocina in south-eastern Poland. At the same time, we are informed by the Ukrainian side that there will be no new investments on their side. For us, these messages are contradictory, because we are fully aware that the current gas connection on the Polish-Ukrainian border does not technically enable the transmission of such large amounts of gas. In order for gas to be physically transferred to Ukraine in the expected quantities, specific investment activities are needed on both sides ... To make an investment decision at Gaz-System, media reports and the mere willingness to cooperate are not enough."

Although ENTSOG's 2022 TYNDP no longer lists this project, the Three Seas Initiative lists the project under the "Planning" status as of June, 2022. The project is estimated to cost between 365-681 million EUR.

In June 2023, it was mentioned in the media that "the connection between the two countries' gas transmission systems might start operating in 2030 given sufficient demand to cover investment in infrastructure construction on the part of Gaz-System". As of August 2023, there have not been any updates about the project.