Denmark Issues Building Consent for Polish Gas Line
The Danish government issued October 25 the permit to build the Polish-backed 10bn m3/yr subsea Baltic gas line in the Danish section of the Baltic Sea, the Polish gas pipeline operator Gaz-System said.
"The approval of the Danish government for the construction of the offshore part of Baltic Pipe is a key element for the project implementation. It is a construction permit integrated with the environmental decision for the marine area. The documentation prepared by Gaz-System provides for a number of technological solutions minimising the pipeline’s impact on the surroundings," said the company.
The issued permit covers both pipeline sections to be laid on the seabed in the Danish part of the Baltic Sea. One runs from the shoreline at Faxe Bay to the border of the Swedish marine area, and the other from the Swedish marine area, through the Danish waters around Bornholm, to the Polish territorial sea. The joint length of both sections is about 133 km.
Receipt of the permit in Denmark is the first of three steps in the process of obtaining all the required permits for the Baltic offshore pipeline. It is expected that the environmental permit for the section in Polish territorial waters, including the landfall, will still be obtained this year. In the meantime, it is also planned to obtain in Sweden a permit comparable to the one issued in Denmark, the state-owned company said.
Together with the Danish approval for the offshore Baltic Pipe section in the Baltic, a parallel decision was issued for Energinet’s offshore project elements. Gaz-System holds all the approvals needed for the onshore components in Poland. Gaz-System is working on selecting the pipe supplier and the construction and installation works contractor for that.
Denmark has yet to give consent to the much larger Nord Stream 2 line, with only two months to go before Russia hopes to pump 55bn m³ directly to Germany, in parallel to the operational Nord Stream 1 line, instead of through Ukraine.