Poland’s natural gas consumption may increase by 50 per cent within the next 10 years, PGNIG CEO Paweł Majewski said. The company faces a major challenge in securing supplies.
“The available forecasts speak of a 50% increase in gas consumption in Poland in the perspective of 10 years. Currently, gas consumption in Poland is around 20 billion m3 a year, so we are talking about the consumption of even 30 billion m3 a year in the perspective of 2030,” – PGNiG CEO told Polish Press Agency Business.
In his opinion, these forecasts are not detached from reality, they are based primarily on the prospects for the development of gas energy.
“Moving away from coal-fired sources will require a transition to gas-fired power generation. We will make every effort to secure blue fuel supplies to the optimum extent,” – said Majewski.
“Our goal is to secure stable, uninterrupted gas supplies to the Polish market. It should be remembered that after 2022 the Yamal contract ends and our strategic goal is to become independent from the supplies from one direction and to diversify them, i.e., to obtain gas fuel from other sources. To this end, we will import to Poland gas in liquefied form from the Gulf of Mexico and Qatar through the terminal in Świnoujście, as well as gas from the Norwegian Shelf, including our production, through the Baltic Pipe. We will also use interconnectors with Slovakia, Lithuania and, if necessary, also the reverse from the German side. Additionally, we have a portfolio of natural gas that we produce domestically,” – he added.
PGNiG is in the process of purchasing new deposits on the Norwegian shelf. In March, it signed an agreement for the acquisition of additional 22 licenses on the Norwegian shelf, so in total PGNiG will have 59 licenses there.
“We are only waiting for approvals from the Norwegian administration, which we expect to receive later this year. Our production on the Norwegian Shelf will increase from the current less than 1 to 2.5 billion cubic meters of gas annually, and at peak times even to 4 billion cubic metres of gas annually. We expect to reach this peak production in 2027. This is a significant part of the Baltic Pipe capacity that we have reserved. We will buy the rest in contracts from partners operating in that area,”- said Paweł Majewski.
PGNiG bought an 85% stake in the Ukrainian company Karpatgazvydobuvannya, which holds the Byblivska licence, from ERU Management Services in late August. The concession is located in the Lviv region, near the Polish border.
“This is a natural geological continuation of our largest deposit, the Przemyśl deposit. This year we will carry out preparatory work, next year there will be an exploration well which, if successful, will involve the start of production from 2023. Gas from this field may be supplied not only to the Polish market but also sold on the Ukrainian market,” – the Chairman said.
At the beginning of September, PGNiG concluded with Venture Global Plaquemines LNG, LLC and Venture Global Calcasieu Pass, LLC annexes to the LNG supply agreements, which will increase the volume by 2 million tonnes a year, to 5.5 million tonnes of LNG per annum, equivalent to approximately 7.4 billion cubic metres of natural gas after a process of so-called regasification.
“The current structure of LNG supplies contracted from the United States allows us to fill the capacity of the regasification infrastructure in Poland, i.e., the LNG terminal in Świnoujście. We are waiting for investment decisions from Gaz System regarding the construction of a floating terminal unit in the Gulf of Gdansk. The contracts concluded with Venture Global on the free-on-board basis, i.e., purchase of gas at the liquefying terminal and its loading onto our LNG carriers, will allow us to freely trade these surplus LNG worldwide – said Paweł Majewski.