Danish authorities have approved the construction permit for the offshore section of the Baltic Pipe Project, the natural gas pipeline project between Denmark and Poland, according to the project's website on Friday.
The Baltic Pipe pipeline, with a capacity of 10 billion cubic meters per year, is designed to bring Norwegian gas via Denmark to Poland.
The project has just received administrative approval for the next phase in Denmark. On Oct. 25, the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities issued two decisions for the offshore pipeline location: one for GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. - Polish Gas Transmission System Operator - and the other for Energinet - the Danish national transmission operator for gas and electricity.
With this decision, 242 kilometers of pipeline will pass through Danish waters out of the total route length of 850 kilometers.
'The decision is an important step for the Baltic Pipe and is the final of the major permits for the project,' it said.
The decision for GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. covers both sections where the offshore pipeline on the Baltic Sea bed will be constructed. One section from the shoreline in the Faxe region to the border of the Swedish maritime area, and one from the Swedish maritime area, through the Danish maritime area around the island of Bornholm, up to the Polish maritime area. In each section, the pipeline will run for approx. 133 kilometers.
The decision for Energinet covers two sections – one in the North Sea and one in Little Belt – the sound between the island of Funen in Denmark and Jutland.
The North Sea section covers approx. 105 kilometers of pipeline from the existing Norwegian Europipe II pipeline all the way to the Danish West Coast at Houstrup Strand in Jutland. The second section covers the 4 kilometers crossing at Little Belt, connecting the Jutland peninsula with Funen.
The project is moving ahead on schedule with first construction planned for December 2019 when Energinet will break ground in preparation for the building of the compressor station to be located on the southern part of the island of Zealand.
GAZ-SYSTEM plans to start site preparation for the pipeline's landfall region in Faxe in the middle of next year.
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr