Poland Ramps Up LNG Imports in 2019
Poland’s PGNiG increased its LNG purchases by more than a quarter in 2019 to 3.43bn m3, the company said in a statement on January 27, in order to cover a 9.8% growth in its overall import needs to 14.85bn m3.
PGNiG has a near-monopoly on Poland’s gas imports. Its LNG purchases from the US, Qatar and Norway climbed by 0.7bn m3 last year, it said.
Russia remained the company’s largest gas supplier, though its share fell by 6.6 percentage points to 60.2%, even though supply volumes were down only 1% at 8.95bn m3. The share of LNG meanwhile increased 3 percentage points to 23.1%. The rest of Poland’s import needs were covered with supplies from its southern and western neighbours.
Russian gas accounted for almost 90% of Poland’s imports prior to the 2016 launch of its Swinoujscie LNG import terminal. Poland has said it will not renew its long-term supply contract with Russia's Gazprom when it expires at the end of 2022, replacing Russian volumes with extra LNG and Norwegian piped gas. The pricing clause of that contract is in arbitration, with a decision expected early this year.
The Swinoujscie terminal received its first batch of US LNG from Cheniere Energy last year, and PGNiG has agreed to take 9.3bn m3/yr of gas from the Houston-based supplier between 2024 and 2042. From 2020 onwards, it will also receive 2.7bn m3/yr of gas from Qatar.
Poland is also preparing to start receiving extra Norwegian gas starting in late 2022, via the new 10bn m3/yr Baltic Pipe project.