Polskie LNG Opens Bidding for Interest in Świnoujście

Polish liquefied natural gas (LNG) company Polskie LNG SA has opened a 35 percent stake in the LNG Terminal in Świnoujście to bidding, to complement a 65 percent stake held by Polish exploration company PGNiG.

Bidding on the project officially opened yesterday, with a closing date set for 30th December 2011. 

The 65 percent agreement with PGNiG, signed on 18th March 2010, will see PGNiG provide regasification services at a capacity of 370 thousand normal cubic metres an hour (Nm3/h) of the offered 570 thousand Nm3/h.

The remaining capacity of 200 thousand Nm3/h is on offer.

The Świnoujście terminal will enable Poland to off-take up to 5 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year, with potential to expand to up to 7.5 billion cubic metres a year. It is the first terminal of its kind in Poland.

President of Polskie LNG Zbigniew Rapciak says that bidding is open to any interested parties. 

"Due to great interest in the remaining capacity coming from both Polish and foreign partners, we decided to allow those interested to obtain the capacity already at this stage" he said.

"The process is open; anyone interested will be able to take part in it.

"The primary criterion during the offer assessment will be the contract duration as well as maximum offered capacity. The higher the digits will be, the more beneficial the conditions of the contract for those placing the offers. It is also worth noticing that the higher the allocated capacity shall be, the lower the unit rates of the regasification services."

If a successful bidder cannot be found by the closing date, Polskie LNG will allocate the remaining capacity as per company guidelines.

Construction of the terminal is due to be completed by 30th June 2014.