Gas Link with Slovakia a Priority for Poland, Says Official

Poland wants new gas links to ensure energy security, with an economy ministry official reported by Reuters as saying that a planned gas inteconnector with Slovakia is a priority for the country. 

"Today our priority is to build the Polish-Slovak connection," Malgorzata Szymanska, director of the oil and gas department in the economy ministry, told an energy conference on Thursday.

In April 2012, Polish pipeline operator Gaz-System SA and Slovakian gas transmission system operator Eustream AS signed a contract for a feasibility study of a Poland-Slovakia natural gas pipeline interconnector. This cross-border gas pipeline would connect the natural gas transmission systems of Poland and Slovakia, allowing Poland to have access to supplies from the Southern Gas Corridor. The Polish-Slovak link would have capacity of up to 5 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year.

The country intends to diversify its energy mix and ease its reliance on gas imports from Russia's Gazprom. Poland is working on a LNG terminal project in Swinoujscie, with deliveries beginning in 2015. Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski recently said that the country would also like to import natural gas from the United States' shale reserves.

Polish diversification effort includes the country’s hunt for shale gas and higher interconnections with Germany, Czech Republic and Nordic countries.

"We are still considering a gas connection with Denmark and the Baltic countries," said Szymanska to Reuters.