LNG

LNG importer Poland has seen the inauguration of a new natural gas pipeline interconnector between Poland and Slovakia as European Union funding is helping to create a Polish gas hub supplying central and northeast EU countries.

Polish state-owned oil and gas developer PGNiG Group posted revenue of PLN78.37 bill, up 214% year-on-year for the first six months of this year. 

On 29^th July, 2022, the management boards of Polish utility and energy companies PGNiG and PKN ORLEN agreed on a plan to merge the two companies.

The US Department of Energy published its latest LNG monthly export data with European nations solidifying their places in the top six while Sempra’s Cameron LNG plant shipped the most expensive cargoes and Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass plant ramped up supplies to an array of countries.

Sempra Energy, the owner of the US Cameron LNG export plant in Louisiana, the Port Arthur venture in Texas and the Costa Azul liquefaction project in Mexico, has signed an preliminary accord to supply Poland with 2 million tonnes per annum of cargoes.

Sempra’s LNG unit has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) for the cargoes from its portfolio projects in North America.

“We look forward to continuing to work with PGNiG to help meet their energy objectives from our strategically positioned LNG facilities and development projects on the Gulf and Pacific Coasts of North America,” said Justin Bird, Chief Executive of Sempra LNG.

Paweł Majewski, CEO of PGNiG, said his company valued its relationship with Sempra LNG and was keen to continue developing these ties.

“The MOU allows for shifting the volumes originally contracted at Port Arthur LNG to other facilities from Sempra's projects portfolio,” explained Majewski.

Sempra, based in San Diego, California, is also developing additional LNG facilities and carbon sequestration infrastructure along the value chain on the Gulf and Pacific Coasts.

Sempra explained that the Polish accord was non-binding and was completed in connection with the termination of a previous sale and purchase agreement (SPA) signed between the parties in 2018 that provided for 2 MPTA of LNG shipments to be delivered from the Port Arthur plant.

Sempra LNG owns a 50.2 percent interest in Cameron LNG, a three-Train export facility operating in Hackberry in Louisiana.

Sempra is currently considering the scale of a proposed expansion of the plant through one additional liquefaction Train with an offtake capacity of over 6 MTPA.

Sempra LNG along with its Mexican subsidiary, IEnova, and French major TotalEnergies are transforming the existing import terminal at Costa Azul in the state of Baja California into an export plant.

The first phase is already under construction and first production of LNG is expected by the end of 2024.

Sempra added that a potential Costa Azul expansion project was in the early stages of development.

Jan 25 (LNGJ) - The Baltic state of Lithuania said the nation’s liquefied natural gas import facility at the port of Klaipeda would be supplying regasified LNG from 2022 to a Polish gas-fired power plant. The power plant at Ostroleka in northeast Poland will receive the supplies from the Lithuanian facility, a floating storage and regasification unit, first deployed on the Baltic Sea coast in 2014. Lithuania and Poland, both members of the European Union, will be connected by the end of 2021 by a new EU-backed natural gas pipeline.

Denmark has opened the way for the completion of the Russian-led Nord Stream II pipeline natural gas project for Western Europe to compete with LNG after previous delays caused by threats of US sanctions.

Construction of the 1,230-kilometres pipeline is almost complete, apart for a final stretch of around 120 kilometres in length in Danish waters.

The Danish Energy Agency said it would allow the Gazprom-led project to use pipe-laying vessels with anchors instead of the more advanced ships using self-positioning technology and which are affected by US sanctions imposed in December 2019.

The US considers the Nord Steam II project a security risk to Europe, though both Russia and most European Union members have condemned Washington’s sanctions.

Germany is the main EU supporter of Nord Stream II and has been accused by several EU members, including Poland, of encouraging the EU energy security policy of building LNG import terminals to reduce dependence on Russian pipeline gas while encouraging the new Gazprom pipeline project to supply Western Europe.

Nord Stream II also bypasses EU LNG importers Poland and Lithuania, as well as the traditional pipeline transit nation Ukraine, on its route under the Baltic Sea from the Russian port of Ust-Luga, near St Petersburg, to Greifswald in northeast Germany.

The Swiss-Dutch subsea company Allseas, which was laying the dual pipelines using two vessels, the “Pioneering Spirit” and the “Solitaire”, halted its work to avoid US sanctions.

With Allseas leaving the project, the Russians have taken over and President Vladimir Putin assured the Russian public that the pipeline would be completed without international assistance.

The Nord Steam II project's two parallel pipelines will be able to transport 55 billion cubic metres per annum of natural gas from Russia to Germany.

After starting in Russian waters, the pipelines pass through Finnish, Swedish, Danish and German marine areas before making their landfall on the German coast.

Still, even if Gazprom completes the project, the company will have to face legal obstacles related to its operation within the EU internal market.

The EU extended its internal gas market regulations in 2019 to pipelines to and from non-EU countries.

Under the amended law, Nord Stream II must adhere to third-party access (TPA) and tariff regulations for pipelines entering EU member territory as well as to the principle of unbundling, whereby the transmission and ownership of natural gas need to be separate from each other.

Analysts say this is a problem for Gazprom because of its vertically integrated structure.

The Russian company could, however, avoid the new EU rules if it is awarded an exemption by the national energy market regulator of the EU member state where the pipeline enters the EU - Germany’s Federal Network Agency.

Meanwhile, a Russian vessel, the “ Fortuna”, which is potentially able to complete the Nord Stream II pipeline, was heading for Danish waters, according to shipping data.

The “Fortuna” is a pipe-lay crane vessel that was built in 2010 and is sailing under the Russian flag.

In the decision to let the Russians lay the pipes, the Danish Energy Agency emphasized, among other things, that the remaining part of the pipelines must avoid certain areas of the sea bottom where deep trawling, anchoring and seabed interventions are discouraged due to the risk posed by “dumped chemical warfare agents”.

“The decision is made in accordance with the Continental Shelf Act and on the basis of Denmark's obligations under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” said the Danish statement.

“Here, Denmark is obliged to allow the construction of transit pipelines with respect for safety and resources rules and the environment,” stated the Danes. 

June 25 (LNGJ) - Poland signed contracts worth $483 million to expand the LNG import terminal at Swinoujscie on the Baltic Sea coast to 6 million tonnes per annum of capacity from the current 3.7 MTPA by 2023. The contract was signed on the Polish side by network operator Gaz-System and the ports of Szczecin and Swinoujscie and on the engineering side by the two contractors, Porr AG of Germany and Bonn-based European LNG specialists TGE Gas Engineering.

   State-run Poland Oil and Gas Company has said it does not intend to extend its long-term pipeline gas supply contract with Russia’s Gazprom beyond 2022 when it expires.

Oct 11 9LNGJ) - Polish import terminal operator Polskie LNG said it signed a contract with Germany-based equipment company Selas-Linde to deliver vaporisers for the expansion of the Swinoujscie facility on the Baltic Coast. The Swinoujscie terminal expansion will increase capacity to 7.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG from the current 5 MTPA. Plans for a floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) being deployed at the Baltic port of Gdansk are also being advanced.

   “LNG is an important element of the strategy of diversification of sources of natural gas imports to Poland,” said Piotr Naimski of the Polish Government’s Strategic Energy Infrastructure department. The LNG expansions will be complemented by another project called Baltic Pipe to supply Norwegian pipeline natural gas to Poland.

Polish Oil and Gas Company has signed an agreement with US liquefied natural gas development company Venture Global to buy 1.5 million tonnes per annum of additional supplies as it aims to reduce its dependence on Russian pipeline gas.