Butkevicius met with the energy minister and was informed that with the help of the European Commission it was agreed on the financing of the GIPL project.
According to Deputy Energy Minister Aleksandras Spruogis, the results are better than what was asked for in the funding application. The deputy energy minister said the work was very intensive and agreements were reached not only between Poland and Lithuania but also between Poland, Estonia, Latvia and the European Commission.
Spruogis said it was agreed on the problematic issue of sharing costs. The agreement over the GIPL project should be signed by mid-October.
The GIPL project will become part of the Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan, aimed at integrating energy markets of the Baltic Sea region. Isolated gas markets of the Baltic States will be connected to the common EU gas market. Gas supply sources and routes will be diversified ensuring natural gas supply security and reliability as well as creating a basis for competitive regional gas market.
700 mm wide gas pipeline will connect Lithuania's Jauniunai and Poland's Rembelszczyzna compressor stations. The pipeline will be 534 km long, 177 km of which will be laid in Lithuania. The cost of the project is EUR 558 million – EUR 422 million for Poland and EUR 136 million for Lithuania. The gas pipeline should become operational in 2020.
