More than 22 million tons of crude oil and condensate, along with 5 billion cubic meters of commercial-grade natural gas, have been discovered by the Canadian company Central European Petroleum (CEP) approximately 6 kilometers from Świnoujście. “This is a historic moment for both Central European Petroleum and Poland’s energy sector,” emphasized CEP’s CEO, Rolf G. Skaar.
According to company representatives, this is the largest discovery in Poland’s history and one of the biggest in Europe in the past decade. CEP highlights that it views this discovery as a foundation for the long-term, responsible development of Poland’s offshore resources.
The exploratory well that led to the discovery is Woli East 1. CEP completed a 70-day test campaign at the site at the end of April this year. The operations were made possible thanks to a license granted by Poland’s Ministry of Climate and Environment in 2017. At the conclusion of the test work, CEP noted that while detailed data analysis would take several months, preliminary results already indicated the presence of up to 16.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the area. As it turns out, the actual outcome has exceeded expectations.
It is worth noting that the drilling operations in the Baltic Sea were met with opposition from Germany. The Polish government was criticized for granting the license by Till Backhaus, the Minister for the Environment of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. He argued that activities with potential ecological consequences should be preceded by notifying neighboring countries. Polish authorities emphasized that the license for offshore operations was issued in full compliance with national regulations.
CEP now estimates that the total resources covered by the Wolin concession amount to over 33 million tons of recoverable crude oil and condensate, as well as 27 billion cubic meters of commercial-grade natural gas.