The long-awaited Baltic Pipe pipeline was officially inaugurated on Tuesday, 27 September. On Saturday, 1 October, gas flows on a commercial basis started.

The Baltic Pipe is a joint investment by the Danish gas and electricity transmission system operator Energinet and its Polish counterpart Gaz-System. The ambitious project received over EUR 250 million in funding from the EU for a total cost of EUR 1.6 billion.

For the time being, the only user of the Baltic Pipe system will be PGNiG. The company bought the most significant part of the gas pipeline’s transmission capacity, which will eventually amount to 10 million cubic meters annually. The Polish giant will import gas from its own extraction on the Norwegian shelf and gas purchased from other producers.

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During the first days of operation, the pipeline did not yet transport gas from the Norwegian shelf to Poland. Energinet reports that all testing of the expanded Nybro terminal, which is to receive gas from Norwegian fields, had not yet been completed. That is why Danish gas will be pumped to Poland for the time being.

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The gas flow should be at 200,000 cubic metres per hour, with a nominal capacity of more than 1 million cubic metres per hour, according to Gaz-System CEO Tomasz Stępień.

Image: Twitter @BalticPipe_PL, @GAZ_SYSTEM

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen