Baltic Pipe

The Baltic Pipe is a natural gas pipeline from the North Sea to Poland by way of Norway, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea. Conceived in the 1990s and begun in the early 2000s, the Baltic Pipe became operational on September 27, 2022. It began delivering natural gas to Poland on October 1, 2022. The completed Baltic Pipe was about 500 to 590 miles (800 to 950 kilometers) in length, depending on which portions of the piping network are included in the measurement. At full capacity, it can deliver approximately 60 percent of Poland’s natural gas needs. The pipeline is a key component in Poland’s efforts to diversify sources for its energy needs and reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

Background

The use of coal as fuel was an important factor in Poland’s recovery after the devastation of World War II (1939–1945). Poland soon became one of the major coal-producing countries in the world. Coal was used heavily within the country’s borders as well. About 74 percent of the country’s energy needs were provided by the fossil fuel, which was used for household and industrial purposes. Poland also exported large amounts of coal, bolstering its place in world trade.

As recently as 1979, decades after underground mining decreased in the United States, more than 420,000 Polish miners labored digging out 201 million tons of coal annually. However, declining interest in fossil fuels eventually caught up with the country as it did elsewhere in the world. With prices decreasing and coal mining becoming a financially inefficient way to get fuel, about two-thirds of the country’s coal mines closed between 1990 and the 2020s.

The remaining mines employed only about 80,000 workers. Those mines and their workers were further pressured by efforts in the European Union (EU) and around the world to decrease dependency on fossil fuels. In the midst of this, Poland began an effort in the 1990s to create a pipeline that would bring supplies of natural gas from the North Sea through land and sea to Poland. While this was not good for the coal industry, it would provide a stable source of fuel for the country while also reducing its use of fossil fuels, in keeping with EU and world-wide initiatives.

Overview

After a number of years in the development and planning stages, the Baltic Pipe project got underway in 2001. Polish oil and gas company PGNiG, known in English as Polish Oil Mining and Gas Extraction, and their Danish gas counterpart, Ørsted A/S, signed an agreement to collaborate on the pipeline. Before long, it was decided that the project was not financially feasible, and it was dropped.

In 2007, another Danish company, Energinet, took over the project from Ørsted A/S and a new agreement was signed to do feasibility studies. The following year, PGNiG was replaced by Gaz-System, the Polish state-run pipeline operator. After several delays, the project was relaunched in 2016 under an increasing desire to reduce Poland’s dependence on fuels from other countries, especially Russia. After new feasibility studies and public hearings were completed, the European Commission, the executive branch of the EU, awarded US$212.4 million for the project in early 2019.

Permit delays and concerns about the effects on wildlife stalled the project until 2021, when new hearings about the project’s environmental impact were held. Following those hearings, a new permit was issued and construction resumed in March 2022. The outbreak of war between Ukraine and Russia shortly before this led to concerns about the natural gas supply Poland usually procured from Russia. These concerns became reality when Russia cut off the country’s natural gas supply in April after Poland refused to pay for the gas with rubles, the national currency of Russia.

Progress on the pipeline was helped along by the use of an existing system in Denmark to stand in for a portion of the new line that was not completed because global supply chain issues caused shipping delays for some parts. The new and connected lines were tested in August and found to be sound and capable of carrying natural gas from the North Sea to Poland. Despite the setbacks, the pipeline opened in a ceremony held in Szezecin, Poland, on September 27, 2022. This followed the announcement the previous day that a ten-year contract had been signed to provide 85 billion cubic feet of gas per year through the pipeline between 2023 and 2033.

Natural gas began flowing through the pipeline on October 1, 2022. This happened despite fears that damage to the two Nord Stream pipelines that occurred days earlier might have been sabotage. The Nord Stream pipelines carried natural gas from Russia to Europe through the Baltic Sea. The damage to them and resulting gas leaks raised concern about the safety of the Baltic Pipe. However, this was not enough to keep the project from opening ahead of schedule.

Technical features

The Baltic Pipe was designed to allow gas to flow in both directions. Its total length is about 590 miles (950 kilometers) and has a capacity to carry 350 billion cubic feet per year from Norway to Denmark and Poland, and as much as 110 billion cubic feet per year from Poland to Denmark. It includes five segments:

• Offshore pipe in the North Sea, built and operated by Energinet, that connects the gas in Norway to the Danish transmission system.
• Onshore pipe in Denmark, with the addition of several sections of new pipeline and a new receiving plant, also built and operated by Energinet.
• A new compressor station in Denmark, built and operated by Energinet, that makes it possible to have gas flow both ways in the pipeline.
• Offshore pipe between Denmark and Poland; the 171 miles (275 kilometers) of pipeline was built and operated by Gaz-System.
• Onshore pipe and three compressor stations in Poland, built and operated by Gaz-System, that connect the natural gas supply for distribution to Polish customers. This represented an expansion of the existing Polish gas delivery system.

Benefits

The new Baltic Pipe was touted as a major step towards safer, cleaner, more affordable energy for Poland and other surrounding countries. Diversifying the fuel supply was expected to bring greater energy security to the region and reduce the risk of service disruptions that left Poles and neighboring nations in the cold. The two-way pipeline increased the accessibility of natural gas and potentially reduce its cost by increasing competition. Finally, it was expected to reduce the need for the use of fossil fuels in the region, potentially benefiting the environment.

Bibliography

“Baltic Pipe.” Energinet, en.energinet.dk/Infrastructure-Projects/Projektliste/BalticPipe. Accessed 7 Jan. 2025.

“Baltic Pipe Project.” NS Energy, www.nsenergybusiness.com/projects/baltic-pipe-project/. Accessed 7 Jan. 2025.

“Crossing Borders for Secure, Affordable and Sustainable Energy.” Baltic Pipe Project, www.baltic-pipe.eu/. Accessed 7 Jan. 2025.

Eddy, Melissa. “Safety Concerns Overshadow Europe’s First New Gas Link in Decades.” The New York Times, 1 Oct. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/10/01/business/baltic-pipe-nord-stream.html. Accessed 7 Jan. 2025.

“Gas Starts Flowing to Poland Through New Baltic Pipe Pipeline.” Reuters, 1 Oct. 2022, www.reuters.com/markets/europe/gas-starts-flowing-poland-through-new-baltic-pipe-pipeline-2022-10-01/. Accessed 7 Jan. 2025.

Hernandez, Joe et al. “What Russia Cutting Off Energy to Poland and Bulgaria Means for the World.” NPR, 28 Apr. 2022, www.npr.org/2022/04/28/1095113387/what-russia-cutting-off-energy-to-poland-and-bulgaria-means-for-the-world. Accessed 7 Jan. 2025.

Hockenos, Paul. “As Pressures Mount, Poland’s Once-Mighty Coal Industry Is in Retreat.” Yale Environment 360, 20 Oct. 2020, e360.yale.edu/features/as-pressures-mount-polands-once-mighty-coal-industry-is-in-retreat. Accessed 7 Jan. 2025.

“Launch of the Baltic Pipe.” European Commission, 27 Sept. 2022, ec.europa.eu/info/news/launch-baltic-pipe-2022-sep-27‗en. Accessed 7 Jan. 2025.