Last week, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, attended the signing of the grant agreement on the GIPL (Gas Interconnector Poland – Lithuania), the first pipeline connecting Poland and Lithuania. The gas interconnector will end the long lasting isolation of the Baltic Sea region and bring the energy needed for a new economic dynamism to the area.

The gas pipeline will stretch some 357 km in Poland and 177 km in Lithuania. It will be capable of delivering 2.4 billion cubic meters of gas per year from Poland to Lithuania, and 1 billion cubic meters of gas per year from Lithuania to Poland.

Witnessed by Prime Minister of Poland Ewa Kopacz, with the President of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaité, the Prime Minister of Latvia, Laimdota Straujuma and the Prime Minister of Estonia, Taavi Rõivas, the signature is also a breakthrough increasing the security of supply and bringing more resilience to the European energy market.

Construction of the project is set to start by December 2019. Its total cost is €558 million which will be funded by the Baltic States and private investment alongside the Commission’s contribution, made under the Connecting Europe Facility.

GIPL is the first gas interconnector between the Eastern Baltic Sea region and the Continental Europe. It is one of the energy infrastructure projects that benefits of the status of Project of Common European Interest. Projects of Common Interest are critical for completing the European internal energy market and for the attainment of the Juncker Commission priority to establish an Energy Union to secure, affordable and sustainable energy.