No room for Poland in Baltic North European Gas Pipeline project, Gazprom Deputy CEO Medvedev

"What concerns participation in the North European Gas Pipeline, the participants of the project have already been gathered, and not only Polish participants will not be able to take part in the project, but also other states and companies which were ready to join it,” Medvedev said in response to questions from a Polish radio RMF FM journalist.

“This is because they were unable to present conditions offered by other participants," Medvedev added. In March Gazprom's CEO Alexei Miller said that countries bordering the Baltic Sea - through which the North European Gas Pipeline will pass - are welcome to submit proposals to participate in the construuction of the pipeline and branch pipelines.

The NEGP will connect the Baltic coast of Russia near Vyborg with the Baltic coast of Germany at Greifswald. The operator for the construction and use of the marine part of the pipeline will be North European Gas Pipeline Company, in which Gazprom will have a 51% stake, and its German partners - BASF and E.ON - will each have a 24.5% stake.

Gazprom plans to finish construction of the first branch of the NEGP by 2010 and to launch both branches, with capacity of 55 billion cubic meters, in 2013. The first branch is expected to reach its projected production capacity of 30 bcm per year by 2012.

Poland is against the construction of the NEGP between Russia and Germany, which Poland considers a threat to energy security for both Poland and the entire CEE.

Poland and the Baltic states have also pointed out that the NEGP will offer the opportunity for Russia to reroute gas intended for Western Europe around Poland, Belarus and Ukraine.

This could be a danger for Poland and the Baltic states if another gas dispute should erupt similar to the New Year's Eve Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute, which resulted in Gazprom cutting off gas to Ukraine, as well as in gas reductions to a number of other EU countries, including Poland.
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