Poland says Copenhagen, Oslo back plan to build gas link to Norway

3/30/2017

WARSAW (Reuters) -- Poland's plan to build a gas pipeline linking the country with Norwegian gas deposits via the Baltic Sea and Denmark has won the backing of Warsaw's partners in Copenhagen and Oslo, Polish minister in charge of the gas grid Piotr Naimski said on Thursday.

Photo Courtesy of Reuters.

The project is a significant part of Poland's bigger plan to cut its reliance on gas supplies from Russia. Poland's dominant gas firm PGNiG currently imports most of its gas from Russia's Gazprom.

Poland's ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) wants to replace Russian gas after 2022 when the long-term deal with Gazprom expires with deliveries from Norway and with LNG supplies through a terminal at the Baltic Sea, and later on also from the United States.

Speaking at a gas industry conference, Naimski, who is close to Jaroslaw Kaczynski, PiS leader and Poland's most powerful politician, said that talks on the conditions of the link to Norway were at their final stage and a plan called Open Season designed to examine market interest would start soon.

"The project is supported by the Danish and Norwegian governments and politicians," Naimski said, adding that the projects are proceeding in line with an initial schedule.

Denmark and Norway were initially skeptical about the project, but became more enthusiastic after a feasibility study conducted last year showed it would be economically viable.

Poland first came up with the idea to build a gas connection to Norway in 2001, but Naimski said it was ditched by the leftist party which won a parliamentary election that year.

"In 2001, Poland was in the middle of a political transformation. The government after the election was an emanation of the post-communist environment, which preferred to turn east not west," Naimski said.

The project was revived by PiS in 2015.

Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko; Editing by Lidia Kelly and Susan Thomas