The Polish operator Gaz-System stated that the launch of the connection of the gas systems of Poland and Slovakia is planned for this summer. The company says that there is no decision so far when the auctions will be able to offer the transmission capacity of this interconnector with a maximum capacity of up to 4.7 billion cubic meters of gas annually towards Slovakia, or 5.7 billion cubic meters towards Poland.

The Poland-Slovakia interconnector is a high-pressure gas pipeline connecting the gas node of the national system in Strachocin in Podkarpacie with the Slovak Velke Kapusany node at the border with Ukraine as a part of “Brotherhood” gas pipeline which is one of the routes for Russian gas exports to the west, through Ukraine.

The Poland-Slovakia interconnector is 61 km long in Poland and 106 km long in Slovakia. The gas pipeline is built and gassed, i.e. ready for operation on the Polish side, but Gaz-System emphasizes that transmission has not yet been launched on this section. There is also no decision on when the interconnector capacity will be offered at the auctions. The Polish operator emphasized that market participants will be informed in advance.

The connection with Slovakia is part of the so-called The North-South Corridor, i.e. the infrastructure enabling the free transmission of gas on the route between the LNG terminals in Świnoujście and on the Croatian island of Krk. The Slovak transmission system is connected with Austria, the Czech Republic and Ukraine, with the possibility of transmission towards Ukraine, and Hungary.

“In Poland, all gas pipelines of the Corridor together with the accompanying infrastructure have been built and will operate within the national system”, states Gaz-System. In total, the Corridor includes 800 km of gas pipelines and the new Kędzierzyn compressor station. Only the gas connection with Slovakia remains to be launched, emphasized the Polish operator.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński