Officials announced yesterday that the undersea Baltic Pipe gas pipeline, which will connect Poland with Norwegian gas fields via Denmark, had successfully reached the Polish coast.

The pipeline, which is part of Warsaw’s efforts to diversify gas supplies and reduce the country’s energy dependence on Russia, is due to be launched in October next year to operate at an initial capacity of 2 to 3 billion cubic meters per year and at full capacity from the end of 2022.

The Baltic Pipe is ultimately expected to have the capacity to carry 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Norway to Poland via Denmark annually.

Poland’s annual gas usage is estimated at around 17 billion cubic meters, of which half is imported from Russia’s gas giant Gazprom under a contract expiring in December 2022.

On Monday, Piotr Naimski, the Polish government’s point man on strategic energy infrastructure, reaffirmed that Poland would stop buying Russian gas after its long-term supply deal with Gazprom expires at the end of 2022.

Source: Radio Poland

A 19th-century oil painting by Finnish master Albert Edelfelt has been returned to its rightful place in Poland after disappearing during World War II.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Gliński, Paris-educated Edelfelt was an outstanding Finnish realist painter and portraitist whose paintings „are currently highly regarded worldwide.”

The 1882 work by Edelfelt, entitled „Under The Birch Trees/Children in a Birch Wood by the Haiko Fjord,” was retrieved by a special task force set up by the Polish Ministry of Culture and led by Gliński.

In a ceremony yesterday, Gliński officially granted the painting to Warsaw’s National Museum, telling those at the ceremony that Poland had lost „over half a million works of art” between 1939 and 1945.

The special task force for retrieving lost artwork currently has 80 highly complex and nuanced restitution proceedings in progress, including 20 cases involving artwork looted by the Soviets.

Source: Radio Poland

After a disappointing finish at the recent Olympic Games in Tokyo, Poland defeated Russia 19-18 to win bronze at the European 3×3 basketball championships in Paris on Sunday.

Players hailing from Pomerania were instrumental in the Polish victory, including Paweł Pawłowski of Gdańsk and Przemysław Zamojski of Elbląg, who scored the winning shot in the last seconds of the final game.

Poland in July made an early exit from the Olympic tournament after losing five games and winning just two. Russia, meanwhile, took the silver medal in Tokyo.

3×3 basketball is a variation of traditional basketball, in which teams of three play against each other on a half-court using one backboard and basket. The popular pickup game made its debut as an Olympic sport at the Tokyo Games, held in Japan from July 23 to August 8.

Source: Radio Gdańsk, PAP

Poland defeated Russia 3-0 in the quarterfinals of the men’s EuroVolley 2021 tournament yesterday at Ergo Arena in Gdańsk.

The undefeated Polish men’s team now advances to the semi-finals, where they will once again face the defending EuroVolley champions, Serbia. The Poles previously defeated Serbia 3-2 in a closely fought series of sets earlier this month.

The semi-final match is scheduled for Saturday, September 18, at 12:00 noon in Katowice.

Source: PAP, eurovolley.cev.eu

Weather

Today will be partly cloudy and warm, with a breeze coming in from the southeast and a good chance of rain overnight. Temperatures will peak around a high of 20°C, or 68°F, cooling off overnight to a low of 12°C or 53°F. Scattered showers and overcast skies are expected for tomorrow and into the weekend, with sunshine and warmer temps returning at the start of next week.

Elizabeth Peck/MarWer