{"id":7239,"date":"2026-05-17T07:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T07:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/7239\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T07:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T07:21:08","slug":"poland-in-the-nato-pipeline-system-within-6-years-its-possible-and-political","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/7239\/","title":{"rendered":"Poland in the NATO Pipeline System within 6 years? It\u2019s possible (and political)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

Poland has declared its readiness to connect to NATO pipelines within 6 years. \u201cThere is such a possibility,\u201d said NATO representative Michael Rozi\u0107. Since 2018, NATO has been working on connecting Poland, the Czech Republic, the Baltic states, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria through a pipeline system.<\/p>\n

\"Panel
\n Photo. @Defence24Days<\/p>\n

Unlike the existing Central European Pipeline System (CEPS), this project is known as the Eastern European Pipeline System (EEPS). In October 2025, the NATO Investment Office signed a preliminary cooperation agreement with PERN SA to connect Polish fuel infrastructure to the NATO pipeline system. This system represents strategic infrastructure that is crucial in the event of war. However, it is only now\u2014when a threat from the East can no longer be ruled out\u2014that Poland is taking decisive steps to join it. The final decision, however, does not depend solely on Warsaw.<\/p>\n

Resilience and Expansion <\/p>\n

Current fuel delivery capabilities to the eastern flank were described by Rozi\u0107 as a \u201cdrop in the ocean\u201d compared with the needs of modern heavy armored divisions. Ultimately, the EEPS system is intended to connect with infrastructure in Turkey, which would create an integrated NATO pipeline network stretching from the Atlantic to the Black Sea.<\/p>\n

Such expansion is essential due to experience from the war in Ukraine: fuel transport by truck is inefficient and vulnerable to attacks, whereas pipelines offer a constant flow and are much harder to destroy.<\/p>\n

The issue of funding projects worth billions of euros stirs emotions, but NATO experts emphasise the need for a paradigm shift. Dominik Jankowski, a representative of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, noted during the debate that eastern flank countries must move away from the belief that \u201cNATO will pay for everything\u201d. While a reimbursement mechanism exists through the NATO Security Investment Programme (NSIP), individual allies should include energy infrastructure in their own increased defence budgets.<\/p>\n

Michael Rozi\u0107 added that although pipelines are expensive, their cost spread over many years is small compared to the expenditure on modern aircraft, which cannot operate without fuel delivered to the site. A crucial element of funding is also civilian use\u2014pipelines must earn their keep during peacetime by serving commercial airports or fuel depots, which helps fund their maintenance and operating costs.<\/p>\n

The NATO pipeline system (CEPS) is an interconnected transmission network that currently links the infrastructure of five Central European nations: France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Germany, with the USA participating as a user nation. The entire system includes a total of 5,300 kilometers of pipelines and 900,000 cubic meters of storage capacity. Due to the vast scale and linguistic diversity of member states, central coordination of communication, transport, funding, and maintenance is a key element, managed by a specialised NATO agency based in France. These pipelines are capable of pumping an average of 330,000 liters of fuel per hour (330 m\u00b3\/h).<\/p>\n

The operational standard is the ability to repair any infrastructure damage within 72 hours. The system is designed to be resilient against both cyber and physical attacks. During peacetime, the pipelines operate commercially, which helps fund their maintenance and operating costs. However, the system includes a military priority clause\u2014in the event of war, civilian contracts are immediately interrupted, and the entire system serves exclusively to supply the armed forces.<\/p>\n

The German Question <\/p>\n

Agata \u0141oskot-Strachota from the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) pointed to a fundamental change in Polish-German relations, which affects the issue of connecting Poland to NATO pipelines. After years of mistrust, Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine is forcing a strategic rapprochement between the two countries. Currently, Germany sees Poland as a partner that can provide energy security by supplying oil to German refineries, such as PCK Schwedt, replacing raw materials from Russia.<\/p>\n

Importantly, eastern Germany is not currently connected to the western CEPS system because it was developed during the Cold War. Therefore, the eastward expansion of pipelines is in Berlin\u2019s direct interest, especially in the context of the increased presence of German troops in the Baltic states. Poland and Germany share a common interest here, although the expert noted that Germany might lack the same \u201csense of urgency\u201d seen in Warsaw.<\/p>\n

The sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in 2022 became a turning point for NATO, forcing the development of new mechanisms to protect critical infrastructure, especially underwater. Following this event, NATO created a comprehensive communication system dedicated to undersea infrastructure to monitor the network and quickly exchange information. Furthermore, a network of contacts was established linking private infrastructure operators, the military, and government entities. To ensure effective cooperation, operators gained access to classified information, requiring employees to obtain appropriate security clearances. Additionally, NATO invited private operators for the first time to participate in its annual tabletop exercises.<\/p>\n

A Given Example <\/p>\n

As it turns out, peacetime can greatly dictate the course of wars. Agata \u0141oskot-Strachota referred to major changes in the European refining sector: in the last 15 years, approximately 20 refineries have been closed in Europe. This process is a side effect of the energy transition and restrictive climate obligations. The liquidation of refineries has led to a significant drop in Europe\u2019s internal production capacity and a drastic increase in dependence on imported fuel products.<\/p>\n

Currently, about 50% of jet fuel imports to Europe come from the Middle East, making the region extremely vulnerable to geopolitical tensions and trade route blockades. Michael Rozi\u0107 noted that the declining number of refineries in Central Europe necessitates the construction of new transmission infrastructure and increased storage capacity to deliver fuel (including sustainable aviation fuel\u2014SAF) where it is needed for military operations.<\/p>\n

The current CEPS system was designed during the Cold War to supply airbases along the former inner-German border; since then, the threat has moved further east. Rozi\u0107 stated that military demand in countries like Poland could be ten times higher than civilian demand. To truly fulfill its task during a large-scale conflict, the implementation of the EEPS initiative is essential.<\/p>\n

Pipelines are the only reliable way to secure fuel for the front, but their urgent eastward expansion is necessary. Will Poland and other regional countries succeed in joining the NATO system within a few years? According to Dominik Jankowski, the most critical factor remains political will. NATO is an organisation that makes decisions by consensus, meaning all allies must agree to the project\u2019s implementation, and the Alliance has not yet reached full agreement on this matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Poland has declared its readiness to connect to NATO pipelines within 6 years. \u201cThere is such a possibility,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6345,855,6347,857,6346,6348,354,323,1092,9,76,1093],"class_list":{"0":"post-7239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-poland","8":"tag-baltic-states","9":"tag-bulgaria","10":"tag-ceps","11":"tag-czech-republic","12":"tag-defence24days","13":"tag-eeps","14":"tag-hungary","15":"tag-nato","16":"tag-pipelines","17":"tag-poland","18":"tag-romania","19":"tag-slovakia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}