Poland landed in the Russian "gas trap"
Last week, Denmark gave permission to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in its waters, removing the last major obstacle to the Russian project. Obviously, this decision will have an extremely negative impact on Ukraine. However, as it turned out, in this situation, our western neighbor is not the only "victim".
The thing is that on the eve, once again, Poland announced the rejection of Russian gas. The contract with Gazprom ends in 2022 and the country is not going to renew it. Instead, Warsaw plans to import LNG from the United States and purchase gas from Norway. Norwegian gas will be transported via the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline being built through Denmark.
However, permission to build Nord Stream-2 will greatly complicate the fate of the Norwegian project. The thing is that earlier the same permit was issued for the construction of Baltic Pipe. Now the routes of the two gas pipelines intersect in the Baltic Sea and one of them will have to coordinate such an intersection with the other.
At the same time, the Nord Stream-2 is already almost completed, and it is obvious that it is the Norwegians who will be in the position of the “asker”. Back at the beginning of this year, Polish experts feared that Gazprom would put sticks in the wheels of its potential competitor, delaying approval. And this option is not excluded.
It is worth noting that today it is Poland that is one of the largest consumers of Russian gas in Europe. At the same time, the European Union only strengthens this dependence. The fact is that most Polish power plants operate on coal, which already forces the country to pay huge fines for emissions. As a result, these amounts are passed on to consumers, which makes Polish industry unprofitable. There is only one way out - to transfer power plants from coal to gas, but this will inevitably require a significant increase in purchases of blue fuel.
Thus, even with the successful implementation of the Baltic Pipe project and the supply of American LNG, Poland will still not be able to refuse to purchase Russian gas. But, this is in the future. In the meantime, Warsaw is also the largest importer of Russian coal.
The thing is that on the eve, once again, Poland announced the rejection of Russian gas. The contract with Gazprom ends in 2022 and the country is not going to renew it. Instead, Warsaw plans to import LNG from the United States and purchase gas from Norway. Norwegian gas will be transported via the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline being built through Denmark.
However, permission to build Nord Stream-2 will greatly complicate the fate of the Norwegian project. The thing is that earlier the same permit was issued for the construction of Baltic Pipe. Now the routes of the two gas pipelines intersect in the Baltic Sea and one of them will have to coordinate such an intersection with the other.
At the same time, the Nord Stream-2 is already almost completed, and it is obvious that it is the Norwegians who will be in the position of the “asker”. Back at the beginning of this year, Polish experts feared that Gazprom would put sticks in the wheels of its potential competitor, delaying approval. And this option is not excluded.
It is worth noting that today it is Poland that is one of the largest consumers of Russian gas in Europe. At the same time, the European Union only strengthens this dependence. The fact is that most Polish power plants operate on coal, which already forces the country to pay huge fines for emissions. As a result, these amounts are passed on to consumers, which makes Polish industry unprofitable. There is only one way out - to transfer power plants from coal to gas, but this will inevitably require a significant increase in purchases of blue fuel.
Thus, even with the successful implementation of the Baltic Pipe project and the supply of American LNG, Poland will still not be able to refuse to purchase Russian gas. But, this is in the future. In the meantime, Warsaw is also the largest importer of Russian coal.
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