PGNiG to join Nord Stream 2 legal exemption procedure

Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) and its German subsidiary PST have joined a procedure examining whether to allow the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline exemption from EU energy legislation.

Nord Stream 2 will transport up to 55 billion cubic metres of natural gas per annum from Russia to Europe across the Baltic Sea.

The pipeline project will run from the Ust-Luga area of Leningrad in Russia to Greifswald, Germany covering a distance of more than 1,200km.

In January, the Gazprom-owned Nord Stream 2 development company issued a request with the German energy regulator Bundesnetzagentur for derogation from the EU’s Third Energy Package requirements for the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

Bundesnetzagentur decided to include the Polish and German companies of the PGNiG Group in the derogation.

Derogation would grant the pipeline exemption from third-party access and requirements on transparent tariffs.

PGNiG management board president Jerzy Kwieciński said: “PGNiG and the Polish Government have consistently pointed to the adverse implications of Nord Stream 2 for the security of supply and competition in the gas market in Central and Eastern Europe.

“Including us in the procedure will help us to defend the interests of the PGNiG Group and gas consumers in the course of the derogation procedure. Nord Stream 2 must not be given preferential treatment.”

Bundesnetzagentur will make the final decision on derogation, with the proceedings to be necessarily concluded by 24 May 2020.

In September 2017, Gazprom opted for increased gas transmission through Ukraine’s Naftogaz to the European Union (EU) to compensate for the Nord Stream operations shutdown for maintenance works.