Strike Hits Polish LNG Terminal Construction
Construction workers building the first Polish LNG terminal have gone on strike.
According to the local media, around 80 employees of Hydrobudowa - who remain at the site in the middle of the holiday season - participated in the protest. They demand immediate payment of their outstanding salaries.
Hydrobudowa spokesman describes the situation as “stalemate.” The company filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of June, blaming capital-thirsty road contracts and problems with payments for its work on National Stadium on Warsaw.
Hydrobudowa is a part of the international consortium consisting of Italian, French and Canadian firms and led by Saipem Spa.
Polish officials maintain that the terminal will be completed as planned, by the end of June 2014, despite the strike and delays, that have long plagued the project.
According to the representatives of Polskie LNG, key parts of the project have already been completed.
Polskie LNG is owned by the gas transmission system operator Gaz-System, which in turn is fully owned by the treasury.
The value of the contract is 2.9 bn PLN (710 mln EUR, 880 mln USD). The terminal is to import up to 5 bcm of gas per year, with the capacity to be enhanced by 50% before 2018.
The first LNG terminal in the country (called “Gazoport” in Polish) is located in Swinoujscie, close to the German border, north of Szczecin, the capital of the Western Pomerania region.
Last year Polish authorities commented that they did not exclude adding liquefaction capabilities to the Swinoujscie terminal or building another export terminal on the Baltic coast.
However, in May, answering questions in the Parliament, the Treasury Minister explained, that the decision to build liquefaction terminal would be taken after considering economic, environmental and geopolitical issues and, first of all, in the case of oversupply of gas in Poland.
Mikolaj Budzanowski also added, that pipelines are “much more economical way of exporting gas surpluses”.
Related Reading: Bankruptcy Not to Delay the First Polish LNG terminal