Funding for Poland-Slovakia gas pipeline

Poland – Slovakia gas connection may now become a reality thanks to backing obtained through the “Connecting Europe” instrument. It is a new financing tool that is to replace the previous TEN-T programme and support development in three areas: transportation network, IT network and energy network, and to contribute to sustainable growth. The funding from the programme may be consumed from 2014 to 2020. As Maroš Šefčovič, deputy chair for energy union of the European Commission, claims, project support was granted to projects of great cross-border importance, focusing on limiting the dependence of EU states on outside energy suppliers.

The gas pipeline construction project got the biggest funding out of all the 18 projects that had been submitted. The goal of the projects is development of energy infrastructure in the European Union. Gaz-System and Eustream, two companies applying for a grant for building Poland – Slovakia gas pipeline, received 107.7 million euro. The connection is an undisputable success due to opening of the Slovakian market for imports of gas from the LNG terminal in Świnoujście. The total length of the projected gas pipeline is 165 km (68 kilometres in the territory of Poland) and it is to connect Slovakian gas pump station in Veľké Kapušany to the gas node in Strachocin. Apart from pipeline construction, the connection project is to entail construction of gas pump at the Polish end of the section and modification of the existing pump on the Slovak side, as well as construction of a meter station at the border between the two countries.

Thanks to the completion of the project, regional diversification and security of gas supplies will increase. Other projects that were granted funding from the “Connecting Europe” programme are e.g. a project on launching preparatory work within the scope of German SuedLink energy project, which involves building a 700-km long underground high-voltage cable line (a grant in the amount of 40.25 million euro) or support for construction of a floating LNG terminal on the Croatian island of Krk.