Environmental review of Baltic Pipe begins
Danish gas system operator Energinet said December 21 that an eight-week review of the environmental report for the 10bn m3/year Baltic Pipe project had started.
Work on Baltic Pipe came to a halt in June after Denmark's environmental and food appeals board repealed a construction permit over concerns about the impact on protected bat and mice species. The delay led to a €80mn (US$90.6mn) increase in costs.
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Energinet said it has worked with the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (DEPA) for months on getting the project back to the point of starting the hearing phase of the project’s environmental impact assessment report.
”We are happy that DEPA have started the hearing phase, in order for us to be ready for the coming construction season, where we will be busy making up for lost time on the parts of the project that were originally planned for construction this year,” said Soren Juul Larsen, the Baltic pipeline project manager at Energinet.
Energinet said that contractors can continue work on segments of the artery once a new permit is issued.
Energinet said Danish gas consumers could still look forward to a €270mn saving on tariffs thanks to the pipeline, which at full capacity will carry 10bn m3/year of Norwegian gas to Denmark and Poland.
Energinet said the pipeline was still expected to start flowing gas on October 1, 2022, three months before Poland's long-term contract for Russian gas supply expires. The government in Warsaw has repeatedly said it will not renew that contract, intending to replace Russian supplies with volumes via Baltic Pipe and via its LNG import terminals.