Baltic Pipe gas link work resumes but faces 3-month delay

Copenhagen

CONSTRUCTION work on the Baltic Pipe, a pipeline connecting Poland with Norwegian gas fields via the Baltic Sea and Denmark, will resume after a temporary halt was announced earlier this month, Danish grid operator Energinet said on Saturday.

Yet two areas of the pipeline's construction still await further regulatory approval, and completion of the project could be delayed by three months, the company added.

The suspension had followed the rescinding of an environmental permit by a Danish public appeals committee due to concerns over the pipeline's impact on protected mice and bat species.

"The Danish Environmental Protection Agency has now stated that it has no objections to Energinet's plans to resume construction on parts of the project," Energinet said in a statement.

The project, expected to be ready in 2022, is key to Warsaw's plans to cut reliance on Russian gas supplies. A 210-kilometre stretch of the pipeline goes through Denmark on land.

"Energinet expects that the overall project will be delayed 3 months," it said, adding it expected the project to deliver a large part of the agreed-on capacity by October next year and possibly full capacity by the end of 2022.

Energinet, which gave no detail of the economic consequences of the delay, said construction at two places in Denmark would be suspended until 2022, pending the issuance of a new environmental permit. REUTERS