Pipeline proposal
Wingas, the operator of the gas infrastructure in Germany linking five European countries, wants Poland to connect to the new OPAL pipeline, which will be constructed along the Polish and German border to pump liquid gas from the shore of the Baltic Sea to the Czech Republic. Wingas says the connection could help Poland diversify its sources of gas, by linking it to a network which transfers North Sea gas. The new OPAL project is part of the Northern Pipeline, which is to be constructed on the bottom of the Baltic, linking Greisfald in Germany with Vyborg in Russia.
"This solution gives Poland better access to the Western gas infrastructure, better access in terms of security of supplies and it allows Poland to buy Western gas from the North Sea which already flows through our pipelines. It is important to understand that we don't want to sell [Poland] the gas, but we want to give [it] the opportunity to diversify [its] purchases," says Ingo Neubert, managing director at Wingas.
He believes that other companies and countries interested in constructing pipelines at the bottom of the Baltic should collaborate with Nord Stream, the joint-venture company set up in 2005 to build the Northern Pipeline.
The construction of OPAL is to be launched in 2008. The 1,200-kilometer-long Northern Pipeline is to be completed in 2010, however, its construction could be delayed. Poland and Sweden object to its construction on ecological grounds.
Piotr Woniak, Minister of Economy says that Poland has its own measures to diversify the gas supplies. "First we have to diversify the sources of gas, which means that first we have to build a link with Scandinavian sources and a terminal to import liquid gas. Then other projects will follow," he says.
