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    Lithuanian TSO Agrees Pipe Purchase for Polish Gas Link

Summary

The delayed project is set to link the isolated Baltic states to EU gas networks.

by: Tim Gosling

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Natural Gas & LNG News, Europe, Security of Supply, Energy Union, Corporate, Contracts and tenders, Baltic Focus, TSO, Infrastructure, Pipelines, Gas Interconnection Poland–Lithuania (GIPL), News By Country, EU, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland

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Lithuanian TSO Agrees Pipe Purchase for Polish Gas Link

Lithuanian TSO Amber Grid announced June 26 that it plans to purchase pipes for the construction of the Gas Interconnection Poland–Lithuania (GIPL) project.

The management board of the state-owned company says it will propose an agreement with Polish company Izostal to supply the pipes at a cost of €26.4mn ($30mn). There will be an extraordinary general meeting July 23 to vote on it.

GIPL, which was originally planned to come online in 2019, is designed to plug the isolated Baltic state region into EU gas networks by connecting Lithuania to Poland. The EU-backed link should help diversify the supply options for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which remain heavily dependent on imports from Russia.

The procurement process for the 165-km Lithuanian section of GIPL was launched in summer 2018. The results of a tender for a construction contractor will “soon be announced,” Amber Grid added in a statement.

The TSO, which was spun off during the unbundling of Russian-controlled gas utility Lietuvos Dujos in 2013 following a vicious fight, says GIPL – which will have a total length of 508km – is now expected to be completed by the end of 2021. Polish TSO Gaz-System is responsible for constructing the Polish section, the re-routing of which in late 2016 delayed the project.

The total value of the project is set at €500mn. The investment on the Lithuanian side will amount to €136m. GIPL will offer capacity to transport up to 27 terawatt-hours (TWh)/yr to the Baltic states, and up to 21 TWh/yr to Poland.

“We have chosen one of the two major GIPL project partners who will produce and supply the pipelines for the new gas interconnection with Poland. We are pleased that the international competition has attracted strong companies,” said Amber Grid CEO Saulius Bilys. “The interconnection project is relevant not only to Lithuania and Poland, but also to all Baltic states, so it is important for us to have reliable partners. We are looking forward to announcing the winner of the GIPL construction works.”

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