Poland wants to be gas hub for whole region - energy minister
Poland aims to become a regional gas hub for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Polish Energy Minister Milosz Motyka said during his visit to Slovakia.
Motyka travelled to Bratislava on Monday for talks with the Minister of Industry of Slovakia, Deputy Prime Minister Denisa Sakova. He was accompanied by Deputy Energy Minister Wojciech Wrochna and a delegation of representatives of companies active in the transmission and distribution of gas and energy.
Following the meeting with Sakova, he told PAP that "Poland has a chance to become, and we are doing everything to make it become, a northern gateway for Liquefied Natural Gas LNG, also from the United States to our entire region," adding that that this applies also to Ukraine.
He further argued that diversification was crucial to end Russian gas imports.
Motyka said that the talks in Bratislava concerned better use of existing gas infrastructure and the Poland-Slovakia Gas Interconnection (GIPS), operational since 2022, will be part of the future gas hub for the region.
"I think that the next weeks, the next months will be further steps in building our energy security structure, which in practice is the construction of a gas hub for our entire region," he added.
Poland is actively positioning itself as a key CEE gas hub by expanding its LNG infrastructure, leveraging its existing terminal in Swinoujscie and planning a second offshore floating terminal near Gdansk by 2028, to supply neighbours like Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Ukraine with non-Russian gas, especially from the US.
The Monday talks in Bratislava also focused on cooperation in nuclear energy, as Slovakia is scheduled to sign an agreement with the United States on Friday to build an additional reactor with US nuclear technology firm Westinghouse at the existing plant in Jaslovske Bohunice in western Slovakia.
Wrochna said that Poland can learn a lot from the Slovaks, because they already have nuclear energy, but, he added, Slovaks can also learn from Poland which has a long-standing partnership with Westinghouse as regards building Poland's first large-scale nuclear power plant using Westinghouse's AP1000 technology.
"At the end of the day, this will give both Slovak partners and us a chance to negotiate better and cooperate better for the benefit of all of us, including the Americans," Wrochna said. (PAP)
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