The Baltic Pipe Project is set to reduce Poland's gas dependence on Russia, analysts said recently.
Financed by the European Commission, the 900-kilometer-long Baltic Pipe will enable Poland to import gas directly from Norway through Denmark when it is finished in late 2022.
"That's a half-commercial, half-political project. Since Poland does not want to import natural gas from Russia, the only alternative is to import natural gas from Norway via Denmark," said Bartlomiej Derski, an energy market analyst from WysokieNapiecie.pl, a leading Polish web portal focused on the energy sector.
Some pointed out that the project's viability could still depend on Russia's cooperation as the new project has to cross over the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, which are controlled by the Russian energy company Gazprom to bring natural gas from Russia directly to Germany, bypassing Ukraine and eastern EU countries.
"The Baltic Pipe project should proceed without a problem, because if Russians don't give permission for the crossing, then there will be problems with other connections of the Nord Stream 2's Polish sections," said Wojciech Jakobik, an expert of the global energy market.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters