Gaz-System announced on Sunday that one of its pipe-laying vessels had started building the new gas link in Danish waters, close to the island of Bornholm. It added that construction is set to be completed this year, weather permitting.

"After five years of planning, designing, and selecting contractors, laying the first offshore gas pipeline in the history of the Polish gas industry has just started. By the end of this year, we are planning to weld and lay on the Baltic seabed 275 kilometres (171 miles) of pipeline which will connect the coasts of Poland and Denmark," Gaz-System CEO Tomasz Stępień said in a company statement.

Once built, the Baltic Pipe will have the capacity to carry 10 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas from Norway to Poland via Denmark annually.