SLOVAKIA and Poland should be interconnected by a gas pipeline within several years as Slovak gas transmission system operator Eustream is making progress in implementing its planned investment projects. These projects form a vital part of the proposed North-South Gas Corridor as envisaged and supported by the European Union, which includes building gas infrastructure connections between Hungary and Poland.
The Polish-Slovak Interconnector, being a priority on the EU Projects of Common Interest list and forming part of the European Energy Security Strategy, is in the preparation phase, Eustream informed in its press release in July. Eustream, together with its partner Gaz-System, are making progress in their combined efforts to submit the CEF application and secure the documentation required to begin construction. The project is expected to be operational in 2018.
Based on earlier information, the annual capacity should be 5 billion cubic metres, which is about the annual consumption of Slovakia.
The Slovak-Polish interconnection is part of a wider European plan to diversify gas transition routes. The North-South Gas Corridor would connect pipelines in central Europe between Poland and Croatia and enable access to supplies from both Poland’s new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the Baltic Sea and the planned LNG terminal on Croatia’s island of Krk.
