Taking advantage of anti-Russian currents, Poland revived the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline project, although it was sentenced two decades ago.
This is stated in the material of the French publication “AgoraVox”.
The media drew attention to the fact that Warsaw is positioning its project as a competitor and even a “killer” of the Russian Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline. With Baltic Pipe, Poland expects to become a regional energy hub, displacing Russian companies from the European market. However, realities do not correspond to ambitions.
“They wanted to combine the Polish gas transportation system with the Norwegian fields in the North Sea in 2001,” the article says. – The project was recognized as economically inexpedient, and it was forgotten. They tried to reanimate him in 2007 and in 2010, but to no avail. ”
They returned to the idea only in 2016, taking advantage of geopolitical tensions. In the context of the struggle for the European gas market between Washington and Moscow, only this information background allowed the Polish project to stay afloat, according to the publication. However, Baltic Pipe will help Nord Stream-2 rather than destroy it.
The fact is that Norway sells all 120 billion cubic meters of gas produced per year. Moreover, over the past 2 years, production decreased by 8%. Oslo even expects to start developing the Barents Sea deposits, but by the level of 2017 it will be possible to reach it only after 4 years. Despite this, the Polish state-owned oil and gas company PGNiG continues to actively buy shares in Norwegian companies producing offshore North Sea. By 2022, it plans to increase production to 2.5 billion cubic meters, which is 5 times more than now.
“Obviously, this is still not enough to download Baltic Pipe. And if they do this, then to the detriment of other European buyers of Norwegian gas, which only fuels their interest in deliveries from Russia, ”the media explained.
It is also important to understand that Poland will receive Norwegian gas at a premium of $ 33 per thousand cubic meters. Only its prime cost will be 132 dollars, while Gazprom set the average price for its gas at 78 dollars.
“Baltic Pipe is an example of a good example of poor competition. More precisely, the Polish project is not competitive at all. It exists solely through a high-profile advertising campaign. Presumably, someone on the other side of the Atlantic really liked it, because there are no other reasons for the existence of Baltic Pipe. This is especially ironic, because it was Nord Stream-2 who always tried to politicize, ”the publication stated.