PGNiG (the Polish Oil and Gas Company) has chartered three LNG carriers for 2022, the company’s CEO Pawel Majewski revealed at the conference on Thursday – the Polish Press Agency reports. Two vessels will already be available for the company in the first half of the year.
The third chartered LNG carrier is expected to be available in the second half of the year, so the company will have three LNG vessels at its disposal. Each has a capacity of about 160,000 cubic metres of liquefied natural gas or about 80-90 million cubic metres of gas after re-gasification.
The charter agreement is expected to allow run free-on-board (FOB) contracts from as early as 2022, which, according to the company, will dramatically expand its business opportunities.
Majewski recalled that there are currently four vessels under construction for charter by PGNiG. Two of them are expected to be ready in 2023 and two in 2024.
In its last financial statement, PGNiG reported that reduced volumes of gas from Russian company Gazprom — the main pipeline gas supplier from across Poland’s eastern border — forced PGNiG to buy additional LNG cargoes on the spot market.
In response to the use of gas supplies as a political tool for Russian expansion, Poland has been trying to decrease its reliance on Russian gas by expanding its LNG terminal, signing agreements with LNG suppliers and investing in cross-border gas infrastructure.
According to PGNiG, works are underway to enlarge the annual regasification capacity of Poland’s LNG terminal in Swinoujscie in the Baltic Sea to 6.2 Bcm in 2022, with further work planned for 2023 regarding the terminal’s capacity to increase to 8.3 Bcm per year in 2024.
Poland’s state-controlled oil and gas producer also expects the Baltic Pipe project to commence its operation later this year, which would deliver up to 10 Bcm of gas per year from the Norwegian North Sea through Denmark.
PGNiG explains both ventures mentioned above will allow the company to meet the demand for gas as the agreement with Gazprom expires in December 2022.
The Polish company also believes in a second LNG regasification terminal to begin operations in the Baltic Port of Gdansk in 2027 to add over 6 Bcm of additional import capacity. An FSRU (floating storage regasification unit) will be anchored in Gdansk Bay. The floating terminal will serve for LNG offloading, in-process storage, and LNG regasification.
source: PortalMorski, PGNiG
