The Office of Technical Inspection (UDT) has given its approval for the operation of the onshore section of Baltic Pipe in Poland: Niechorze – Płoty. This section is 41 km long. Thus, the entire onshore section of Baltic Pipe in Poland already has the Authority’s approval, Gaz-System announces.

The Office of Technical Inspection, as part of its tasks for Baltic Pipe, participated in agreeing with documentation, qualifying welding and plastic processing technologies, granting authorisations for welders and operators, supervising workmanship, final acceptance and issuing authorisations for operation. The acceptance was made following the successful completion of 10 special tests.

“The UDT has been involved in the Baltic Pipe project, which is crucial for Polish energy independence, since the beginning of its implementation and has supported the investment at every stage. The decisions we have issued authorising the operation of the linear sections of the pipeline to confirm its technical safety,” said Andrzej Ziółkowski, President of the Office.

Baltic Pipe will create a new route for natural gas supplies from Norway to the Danish and Polish markets and to end-users in neighbouring countries. The investors are the transmission operators Danish Energinet and Polish Gaz-System. According to the plans, the transmission route is expected to start operating on 1 October 2022 and reach full capacity at the beginning of 2023. Once operational, Baltic Pipe will have a capacity of 2-3 bcm of gas per year. In 2023, the pipeline will reach its maximum capacity of 10 bcm of gas per year.

The president of the Polish gas transmission operator, Tomasz Stępień, pointed out that the construction of the Baltic Pipe is nearing completion. Tests and commissioning are currently being carried out on gas pipelines and onshore facilities in the country

“We would like to thank all external institutions and their employees involved in this process. Thanks to good cooperation, the investment will be delivered on time, i.e. by 1 October this year,’ announced Stępień.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński