"[The demand] would delay the start of construction which is planned in the middle of September. It would also invalidate the construction permit and the environmental decisions," Budzanowski told Polish daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
Last month, Poland signed a contract with a consortium led by Italy's Saipem to build the terminal at the port of Swinoujscie near the German border in northwest Poland. It will have the capacity to import 5 billion cubic meters of gas per year and the first shipments of LNG from Qatar are scheduled to arrive in the second half of 2014.
Poland is building the terminal to reduce its dependence on Russian gas, which accounts for 90% of its imports. Poland uses 13-14 Bcm/year , of which 4 Bcm is produced from domestic fields.
According to the daily, the German government is demanding that Poland conduct an environmental impact assessment of the terminal on its side of the border under the Espoo agreement, the UN convention which sets out ways to deal with cross-border environmental concerns.
The daily said the German government was not convinced by the environmental impact analysis performed by Poland's state-owned gas transmission system operator, Gaz-System.
"Our analysis shows that the investment will not have a cross-border impact," Malgorzata Polkowska, a spokeswoman for Gaz-System, told the daily.
Budzanowski said Poland had also satisfied the European Commission's concerns about the environmental impact of the project. The EC is due to decide whether to co-finance the LNG terminal by the end of September and talks are due to start Monday in Swinoujscie over EU financing.
China Chemical Weekly: http://news.chemnet.com/img/articles/140/1409957_0.pdf
