The Polish-Lithuanian gas pipeline (GIPL) was launched on May 1 as planned, with gas flowing into Poland as of May 2, Poland’s Minister of Climate and Environment Anna Moskwa has said.
The 522-kilometre Gas Interconnection Poland–Lithuania (GIPL), co-funded by the EU, connects the gas transmission systems of Poland and Lithuania. Full capacity is expected to be reached in October.
The pipeline’s target capacity will be 2.5 billion cubic metres towards Lithuania and 2 billion cubic metres towards Poland, but it will remain limited until the end of September, at 2 billion cubic metres towards Lithuania and 1.9 billion cubic metres towards Poland.
Moskwa added that on May 5, further infrastructure enabling higher transmission of gas into Poland will be open.
Amber Grid, the operator of the Lithuanian section, will connect the Polish and Lithuanian as well as Baltic and Finnish natural gas transmission systems with the EU system. It will run from the Jauniunai Gas Compressor Station in the Sirvintos district of Lithuania to Holowczyce on the Polish side.
If Russia does not resume supplies after cutting short its Yamal pipeline supplies last week, six months before its long-term contract with Poland expires, Poland’s gas storage capacity of 23.3 billion cubic meters is reportedly 76 per cent full, enough to cover 85 per cent of normal annual demand. The Polish authorities say that the Baltic Pipe connecting Norway with Poland and Denmark, where Poland’s state-owned oil and gas company (PGNiG) is involved, should be operational by October 2022.