LNG

The European Commission is paying Poland €3.85 billion ($4.04Bln) to support the initial aftermath of the shutdown of coal mines in five Polish regions as the nation increases LNG and pipeline natural gas imports as well as developming renewable energy sources.

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 Oil and Gas Company has signed a charter contract for four more LNG carriers and they will be placed into service to operate for the company’s trading unit as the Poles increase their marketing activities.

Equinor, the Norwegian supplier of pipeline natural gas and LNG to Europe, has made its sixth discovery on the Norwegian shelf so far in 2021 and the success was shared by Polish Oil and Gas Company.

July 5 (LNGJ) – Russian and US cargoes are still pointing at Europe as the natural gas benchmark price, the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), is at record 2021 levels for the Northern Hemisphere summer season. The 177,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “Boris Vilkitsky” is expected to deliver a cargo on July 8 to the Montoir-de-Bretagne import terminal on the Atlantic Coast of France from the Yamal plant in northern Siberia operated by Novatek, according to shipping data.

   Among other cargoes for Europe, the 154,880 cubic metres capacity vessel “BW Pavilion Vanda” is scheduled to deliver a US shipment on July 19 to Poland’s import terminal at the Baltic port of Swinoujście from the Corpus Christi export plant in Texas. The cargoes were heading for Europe as the Dutch TTF hit the equivalent of $12.45 per million British thermal units while the UK National Balancing Point natural gas price was around $12.30 per MMBtu.

March 31 (LNGJ) – Norway and the US are keeping up the supply of cargoes to European terminals. Among the steady flow of shipments, the 140,000 cubic metres capacity “Arctic Discoverer” is scheduled to unload on April 2 at the Dunkirk terminal on the Channel Coast of France from the Hammerfest plant in Norway operated by Equinor, according to shipping data. The 147,200 cubic metres capacity vessel “Arctic Lady” will deliver a second Norwegian cargo to France on April 4 when a shipment is discharged at the Fos sur Mer facility on the French Mediterranean coast near Marseilles.

   The 173,400 cubic metres capacity carrier “Oak Spirit” will unload a US cargo on April 1 at the Polish terminal at the Baltic port of Swinoujscie from the Corpus Christi plant in Texas operated by Cheniere Energy. The 165,000 cubic metres capacity “Marib Spirit” will deliver another Corpus Christi cargo on April 7 to the UK South Hook terminal at Milford Haven in Wales.

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.

The European Commission has approved a grant of 128 million euros ($145M) to support the expansion of the Polish onshore liquefied natural gas terminal at the Baltic port of Swinoujscie to enable regular future deliveries of US LNG.

The expansion is scheduled to be completed by 2022 and is aimed at helping ensure gas supply security in Poland and the wider Baltic market.

Regasification at the terminal will be increased to handle 5.55 million tonnes per annum of LNG, or 7.5 billion cubic metres of gas.

A second phase of the expansion will be completed by 2023 and includes a third LNG storage tank along with trans-transhipment facilities for rail loading onto ISO containers.

It will include the construction of an additional jetty. This project will be implemented in collaboration with the Szczecin and Swinoujscie Seaports Authority.

The new jetty will enable the provision of small-scale tanker loading and bunkering activities.

Polskie LNG, the terminal operator, has awarded a technical consulting contract to the European engineering company Tractebel, based in Belgium, to help with the terminal expansion programme.

The funding from the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, comes from the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund under the 2014-2020 Infrastructure and Environment Operational Programme, which has among its priorities the improvement of energy security in Europe.

“The project will contribute to ensuring security of gas supplies in Poland and in the Baltic countries by making supplies more diverse and promoting new gas transport routes in the region,” said an EU statement.

Poland's state-controlled oil and gas company is planning to increase its purchases of LNG to 7.5 MTPA, which is 2 MTPA more than the future handling capacity of the Swinoujscie terminal.

This will enable the company to conduct some cargo trading on the international market.

Under two US supply agreements, the Poles will receive 2 MTPA of LNG for 20 years from Sempra Energy’s Port Arthur plant planned for Texas and coming on stream in 2023, as well as volumes from Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass export facility in Louisiana to be completed in 2022.

The main supplier to Poland is Qatargas under a long-term supply contract that started in 2016.

Jan 24 (LNGJ) - Polskie LNG, the operator of the Polish import terminal at the Baltic port of Swinoujscie, said it had received environmental permits for its planned expansion of regasification capacity, storage and loading, allowing it to complete contract tenders. The Polish terminal began operations in 2009 and can currently receive almost 4 million tonnes per annum of LNG. Two tender procedures are currently in progress for the terminal. “The objective of the first is the selection of the contractor for three key components, construction of the third storage tank, process installations to increase regasification capacity and the LNG-to-rail transhipment installation along with a dedicated railway siding,” said the company. The deadline for the first tender has been extended to February 19. A second tender with a February 26 deadline is for the building of an additional jetty in cooperation with the Szczecin and Swinoujscie Seaports Authority.

The Russian port and enclave of Kaliningrad is now self-sufficient in LNG after a delivery via the floating storage and regasification unit, the “Marshal Vasilevskiy”, to the small area separated from Russia and bordering Lithuania and Poland.