Wojciech Jakóbik Blog

Poland, through diversifying its LNG sources to Norway and Qatar this summer, aims to be on the road towards independence from Russian gas imports by 2022.

Wojciech Jakobik, an energy analyst from Jagiellonian Institute in Poland’s Krakow told Anadolu Agency that Polish energy company PGNIG and the Polish gas transmission system operator, Gaz-System, have planned to acquire total independence from Russian gas by 2022.

According to Polish news portal BiznesAlert, on June 17 PGNIG will obtain one LNG cargo from Qatargas and on June 25 another will be delivered from Norway’s Statoil.

The first cargo from Qatargas will be part of Poland’s contract with Qatargas and the second delivery will be bought on a spot market basis.

Noting that it will be possible to renegotiate or even quit its expensive gas contract with Russian Gazprom, Jakobik said that „they want to have a full range of options: LNG from all over the world and pipeline gas from Norway.”

„Poles are also throwing a gauntlet to Gazprom in Central and Eastern European region. They talk about gas supplies [from Poland] to Ukraine, Czech Republic and Slovakia,” Jakobik said explaining that Poland can re-export gas from its LNG terminal and possibly from Norway with the Baltic Pipe project.

Poland and Denmark are currently analyzing the prospects of connecting natural gas through the planned natural gas connection, the Baltic Pipe project.

The Baltic Pipe project will transport natural gas from Norway to Poland via Denmark when completed. The feasibility study for the project, which will recommend the optimal scenario for possible connections, will be completed by the end of 2016.

Jakobik said that Poland wants to open the Northern Gate – the official name for Poland’s LNG terminals and the Norwegian gas corridor by 2022.

„They [Poles] will not be dependent on Russian gas at all. They don’t want to rely on interconnectors because they are fragile to politics,” he said adding that „they also want to be quicker than the Nord Stream II and present an alternative to the whole region.”

The Polish President visited Norway on Monday with PGNIG, Gaz-System and the government representative for strategic energy infrastructure, Piotr Naimski.

PGNIG is preparing to buy five cargoes of LNG in June and July of this year on a spot basis in preparation for the operation of Poland’s new LNG terminal.

Poland’s gas terminal at the Baltic seaport of Swinoujscie will start commercial operations in the second half of 2016.

Source: Anadolu Agency