"According to Poland, this situation threatens the security of gas supplies to the European Union, in particular to the region of Central Europe. It poses a serious risk to the security of gas supplies to Poland via the dependence on a single source of supply from Russia," Wajda said as quoted by PAP news agency.
The Opal pipeline connects Europe’s gas transportation network with the Nord Stream pipeline, which was built in 2010 to supply Russian gas along a Baltic Sea pipeline to northern Germany.
However, European restrictions permit Russian energy giant Gazprom only 50 percent of the pipeline for Russian natural gas to be delivered across Germany to the Czech Republic. The restrictions are outlined in the European Union’s Third Energy Package that reserves the other half for independent gas suppliers.
In October, the European Commission expanded Gazprom's access to the Opal gas pipeline by additional 40 percent, preserving the last 10 percent as a reserve for the third countries, which could be extended to 15-20 percent in case of high demand.
Russia is engaged in constructing the Nord Stream-2 pipeline that aims to deliver 55 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas a year to the European Union across the Baltic Sea to Germany, bypassing Ukraine.
