Baltic Pipe seals first Danish permit

The Baltic Pipe project has secured the first approvals for its Danish section, Polish TSO Gaz-System announced July 18.

The Danish Environment Protection Agency has granted environmental approval for Baltic Pipe’s landfall. The route is planned to carry gas from Norway’s continental shelf to Poland. The section in Denmark will run onshore via existing infrastructure.

The approvals, handed to Gaz-System and Energinet, the Danish national transmission operator for gas and electricity, cover the section where the offshore pipeline enters the land as well as the construction of the microtunnel up to the shoreline, Gaz-System’s statement reads.

The 10bn m³/yr Baltic Pipe, which will complement the Swinoujscie LNG terminal in the same corner of Poland, is planned to allow the central European country to reduce its reliance on Russia's Gazprom for its gas, or even drop the supplier altogether when the pair’s long-term contract expires in 2022. Polish state-controlled gas utility PGNiG is busy expanding its Norwegian portfolio in anticipation that the route will start working the same year.

The project has been collecting Polish documentation since the spring. Gaz-System and Energinet signed off on €215mn in EU funding for Baltic Pipe in April.