"A detailed analysis carried out by Poland's operator Gaz-System has revealed that the expansion of the compressor station at Rembelszczyzna, close to Warsaw, has a large impact on environment and increases the noise level. The station is located near residential areas and no quick solutions to reduce the noise level are available," the Lithuanian Energy Ministry said.
Therefore, Poland cannot build the pipeline to the Rembelszczyzna compressor station, as planned, and intends to change the route to build it to the Holowczyce gas compressor station near the border with Belarus. The latter station is around 150 kilometers from Rembelszczyzna and is closer to Lithuania.
According to the Lithuanian ministry, this would increase the capacity of the pipeline in the Polish direction and might reduce the costs of the project. However, it would take more time to complete it.
Masiulis says that the pushing back of the completion date will have no major impact on the Lithuanian gas market.
"This should not affect it very much. We have to understand that projects of this size are done together with partners and that the partners may encounter difficulties. They are dealing with this issue as quickly as they can," he told from Poland.
The total length of the pipeline will be 522 kilometers, including 165 kilometers in Lithuania. The GIPL project is estimated to cost 558 mln euros in total, of which 136 mln euros will be invested in Lithuania's territory.
