Baltic Pipe will be three months late: operator
Denmark's state-owned grid operator Energinet said June 21 it expects completion of the 10bn m³/yr Baltic Pipe project to be delayed by three months, following the cancellation earlier this month of a key permit that forced it to halt work. But it can still flow some gas on time, it said.
It has not yet calculated the cost of the delay, which it will make public; but it has been allowed to work on some sections of the line regardless of the permit.
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It said "it will be able to deliver a large part of the agreed-upon capacity by October 2022 working towards delivering full capacity by the end of 2022." The line crosses Danish territory on its way from Norway to Poland and is intended to help replace Russian gas.
Energinet is building the line jointly with Polish Gaz-System, into whose grid the pipeline will deliver gas. Neither company replied to NGW's questions earlier this month about the impact of the cancellation, although the environment ministry, apparently accurately, hazarded in an email to NGW that the process of applying successfully for a new permit might take six to eight months.
Work on the pipeline in the western part of Funen and the eastern part of mainland Jutland from the existing compressor station in Egtved to the Little Belt strait will be stopped until a new environmental permit has been issued in 2022, Energinet said. Construction on the electrical supply to the compressor station at Everdrup will also have to wait for a new permit.
But work may resume in specific parts of the 210-km section across Denmark, having had the all-clear from the environment protection agency. This includes the island of Zealand; the eastern part of the island of Funen; and the part of the landline from the Danish west coast to the Nybro Gas Terminal. Construction can also be resumed on the Nybro Terminal itself and on the new compressor station at Everdrup on Zealand.
"We are working very hard to finish as much as possible to be able to deliver a large part of the agreed upon capacity by the original deadline," said Energinet.
The new parts of Baltic Pipe plus existing Danish transmission system capacity will enable Energinet to transport gas to Poland from October 2022, while Energinet works towards full capacity by the end of 2022. State gas company PGNiG's gas import contract with Gazprom is due to expire December 31, 2022.