PGNiG: Launches First Horizontal Fracking Operation

PGNiG is preparing for its first hydraulic fracturing on a horizontally drilled well.

Halliburton will perform the operation in Lubocino for the Polish gas firm.

CEO Grazyna Piotrowska Oliwa, quoted by the Polish media, said the fracking operation would be carried out in the coming days on the kilometer long horizontal Lubocino 2H well.  Initial results are expected before the end of the year. 

Lubocino was the first successful vertical drilling of the PGNiG under its shale gas exploration plan.

In September 2001, the company widely advertised this achievement. The gas flare was shown by TV news stations, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk, accompanied by an entourage of government ministers paying a visit to the well site.

The horizontal bore in Lubocino is the first of a kind for the company and one of a few in the Poland where over 30 exploratory shale gas wells have been drilled thus far.

In mid-November, PGNiG announced another success, in nearby Opalino also situated on the most promising Wejherowo concession area, North West of Gdansk.

PGNiG is also preparing for the market liberalization of the Polish market by undertaking a restructuring and rebranding.  Dziennik Gazeta Prawna reports that a change in the PGNIG brand will likely occur early in the new year. 

The paper claims that majority of Poles cannot properly decipher the abbreviation PGNiG, which stands for Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo (Polish Oil and Gas Company or word for word: Polish Oil Mining and Gas).

The company reportedly also intends also to avoid certain negative connotations, associated with its monopolistic position.