Poland Seeks Allowances in Gas Deal for Shale Hopes
Poland wants a flexible long-term agreement for natural gas deliveries from Russia in order to be able to reduce its gas imports from the east should it identify shale gas deposits or gain access to natural gas from other suppliers, Polish Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad said Wednesday.
“The deal with Russia should give flexibility so that, in the years when we may have shale gas or deliveries from other sources, we may be able to enter the Polish market and to export domestically produced gas through interconnecting pipelines,” he told the business channel TVN CNBC at an economic forum in Krynica, southern Poland.
“We have the [liquefied natural gas] terminal on the horizon in 2014, which will diversify supplies,” he added. “In two years from now, we’ll know if and how much shale gas we have. [...] We’d all like shale gas deposits to be as big as possible, it’s a great chance for us.”
Some experts say that Poland’s shale- and tight-gas reserves could amount to three trillion cubic meters. If such quantities were extracted on a sufficient scale Poland could become gas independent for 100 years. Some even talk of Poland becoming a net exporter of natural gas.
“Production of shale gas in Europe can change its energy paradigm,” Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said in April.
Though hopes are high, it will take years before Polish shale gas, should it be commercially viable, starts to flow. Until then, Poland will continue to look towards Russia.
Currently Poland sources 70 percent of the 14 billion cubic meters of gas it uses each year from Russian state-controlled energy giant Gazprom. Poland and Russia came to an agreement on volumes and rates for gas for both Poland and transiting en route to Europe this past January.
However, the agreement was initially due to be signed earlier this year, but has been delayed as Poland awaits European Union approval, which has said that the arrangements are inconsistent with EU rules that propose independent management of infrastructure and access to third parties. As a result, negotiations are continuing to find a resolution amongst the various players.