Poland Considers Expansion of its First LNG Terminal

Polskie LNG is already considering expansion plans of its yet to be completed Gazoport.

However, the operator is not confirming press reports that claim that the company has already given up on plans to add a liquefaction capabilities to the country's first LNG terminal.

According to the Polish daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna (DGP) adding export capabilities to the terminal near the border with Germany is now excluded.  The paper does not mention whether a possibility of building another export terminal on the Baltic coast could have been also eliminated.

Polish authorities commented last year that they did not exclude building a liquefaction terminal in Swinoujscie. However, this past spring the Polish Treasury Minister cautioned that the decision would be taken after considering economic, environmental and geopolitical issues and only in the case of oversupply of gas in the country.

Polskie LNG is owned by the gas transmission system operator Gaz-System, which is fully owned by the state treasury. CEO Rafal Wardzinski was quoted by DGP saying that in the face of growing demand for gas in the region, Polskie LNG intended to expand capacity in Swinoujscie as soon as possible.

In the first phase, scheduled for 2014, the terminal is to import up to 5 bcm of gas per year, with roughly one third of this volume supplied by Qatar in the long term contract.

According to the deputy Minister of Economy, Poland considers all sources of supply for its LNG terminal, including United States, in order to diversify sources and routes of energy supply.

The overall value of the contract is almost 3 bln PLN, financed by Polskie LNG, the EU and European Investment Bank.

Last week the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) awarded a 300 million PLN (75 million EUR) loan for the construction of the Gazoport.

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