Baltic Pipe undersea gas pipeline connected to Polish and Danish transmission systems

GAZ-SYSTEM and Energinet, partners in the Baltic Pipe project, have completed a key stage of installation work on the offshore gas pipeline. In July this year, the last welds connecting this gas pipeline to the Danish transmission network at Faxe in Denmark and to the Polish transmission system at Pogorzelica were completed.

– Today we can say that the Baltic Pipe submarine gas pipeline is technically an element of the national transmission system. Thanks to this investment we have integrated the gas networks of Poland and Denmark, creating a new natural gas supply corridor to the Central and Eastern European region. We still have to carry out commissioning and gasification works and then start transmission on the assumed date, i.e. 1 October this year. – said Tomasz Stępień, President of GAZ-SYSTEM.

The operations of connecting the offshore gas pipeline with the onshore gas pipelines in both countries, the so-called tie-in, were preceded by a number of preparatory activities, which included cleaning the offshore gas pipeline with cleaning pigs, carrying out a water pressure test, dewatering of the gas pipeline with specialised pigs and finally dehydration until the expected degree of pipeline dehydration is achieved.

On the Danish side, the tie-in operation, which was carried out by Energinet, involved welding an approx. 120 m long section connecting the onshore and offshore pipelines in a previously prepared open trench. On the Polish side, the operation was carried out by GAZ-SYSTEM, which carried out similar activities involving the welding of a slightly shorter, i.e. 90-metre-long connector.

The guaranteed welds, the so-called golden welds, made at both ends of the offshore gas pipeline on opposite sides of the Baltic Sea, resulted in the physical connection of this gas pipeline to the national transmission network of Poland and also to the transmission infrastructure of the Kingdom of Denmark, ensuring the possibility of gas transmission between these countries.

Following the completion of these works, restoration activities at both construction sites and commissioning works for the entire Baltic Pipe offshore gas pipeline system will commence. All activities are being carried out according to schedule.

The Baltic Pipe project is one of the largest infrastructure investments in the country. The European Commission has granted the investment the status of “Project of Common Interest” (“Project of Common Interest”). The project received financial support from the European Union under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

source: PortalMorski.pl