Poland Shales: Commercial Deliveries May Start in 3 Years

Polish power utility PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA has received informal offers from holders of shale concessions in Poland for commercial deliveries of natural gas as early as three years' time, PGE Chief Executive Tomasz Zadroga said Thursday.

The future availability and price of the fuel, whether from a liquefied natural gas terminal currently under construction on the Baltic coast, from a virtual reserve flow on the Yamal-Europe pipeline, or from shale rocks, is a factor determining on what fuel--coal or gas--PGE will base new power plants it plans to build.

"Certain consession holders say they can guarantee commercial deliveries of gas from shales in three years from Poland," Zadroga told TVN CNBC. "We're asking them for analyses, as these aren't formal offers."

He declined to specify which companies had made these offers.