Poland's PGNiG may delay plans to build LNG terminal - report

Poland's natural gas monopoly PGNiG might delay its plan to build a liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal on the Baltic coast due to failures to sign supply contracts, Dziennik newspaper reported, giving no named sources.

The paper said new Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad has ordered analysis of the project along with PGNiG's other major investment - the construction of the Baltic Pipe pipeline connecting Poland to Denmark.

PGNiG has planned to build an LNG terminal in Swinoujscie on the Baltic coast by the end of 2011 and receive 2.5 bln cubic metres of liquified gas per year as part of Poland's strategy to limit its dependence on imports from Russia.

The company has been looking to secure liquid gas supply for the terminal, which may cost at least 450 mln eur to build. But its talks with Algieria have stalled, the newspaper said.

'It takes between six and seven years to recieve first supplies (of gas) after the contract has been signed,' daily quotes ruling Civic Platform deputy Andrzej Czerwinski as saying.

'Without stable supplies it doesn't make sense to build the terminal,' Czerwinski, who is also a deputy head of parliament's economy committee, added.

Source: forbes.com

Rospuda valley, Poland – Dozens of environmentalists have established a protest camp in the path of a section of the soon to be built Baltica Highway

Rospuda valley, Poland – Dozens of environmentalists have established a protest camp in the path of a section of the soon to be built Baltica Highway, linking Poland with Finland, which would destroy a protected nature reserve. Pollution and development that comes with the road along with the heavy construction equipment needed to construct it will drive dozens of rare plants and animals, found only in the bog, to extinction.

The decision to construct the highway violates a European program that protects rare ecological environments. The EU has demanded an explanation and threatened sanctions if the project goes ahead. After massive protests in numerous cities in the region even Poland's First Lady Maria Kaczyński has spoken out against the development.

Protesters have built a series of tree platforms in the threatened valley, 200 km north-east of Warsaw, in order better resist any attempts on the part of the police to forcibly remove them. The international conservationist organization Greenpeace has sent climbers to assist demonstrators.

Source:bombsandshields.blogspot.com