Nord Stream leaks will not delay Oct. 1 Baltic Pipe start-up

WARSAW (Reuters) – The leaks on Nord Stream pipelines will not delay the Oct. 1 start of gas flows via Baltic Pipe, a new gas pipeline from Norway to Poland, a Polish government official in charge of strategic energy infrastructure said on Thursday.

The damage to the Nord Stream pipelines happened just days before Baltic Pipe is due to start operating. The link, with annual capacity of 10 billion cubic meters, will transport gas from Norway to the Danish and Polish markets, as well as to end-users in neighbouring countries.

Polish services are monitoring the undersea section of Baltic Pipe, but security measures that have been taken are a state secret, Mateusz Berger, the government’s representative for Strategic Energy Infrastructure said in an emailed response to questions from Reuters.

“The circumstances of leaks on Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 are being investigated by dedicated agencies in Poland, Denmark, Germany and Sweden,” Berger said.

“Gas transmission via the pipeline will start on Oct. 1 as earlier declared.”

Baltic Pipe crosses the damaged Nord Stream pipelines in the vicinity of Bornholm, an island off the coast of Denmark.

Baltic pipe is a joint project of the Danish gas and electricity transmission system operator Energinet and the Polish gas transmission system operator GAZ-SYSTEM.

(Reporting by Marek Strzelecki. Editing by Jane Merriman)