Polish State Gas Company Plans €3 Billion Surplus

Leading Polish gas company PGNiG has announced its priorities for coming years, leading to a liberalised gas market in the eastern European country.

The state-controlled comapny (Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA) made a statement detailing its exploration and administrative targets.

Poland is required by the European Union to free up its gas market, which comprises more than 14 billion cubic metre (bcm). In the past few months, government officials, PGNiG and the regulator have discussed the best strategies for this.

In end-of-year announcements, PGNiG indicates an ambitious investment programme, with the aim of a net cash surplus of Polish zlotys 15 billion (€3billion) by 2020.

Grażyna Piotrowska-Oliwa, president of the PGNiG management board, said: "Our Short-Term Strategy is a comprehensive plan of coordinated activities...In two years’ time, we want to be a modern multi-utility, well-positioned to function proficiently in the new market reality."

Chief among a range of 19 initiatives is hydrocarbon exploration and production, including shale gas. PGNiG has maintained its strategic goals to increase the group’s own production of natural gas to about 6.2 billion cubic metres by 2015. It says it will also focus on appraising and developing unconventional hydrocarbons within its licence areas, mainly in the provinces of Gdańsk and Lublin. 

The state company has also been streamling operations and reducing staff numbers in 2012.

See also: PGNiG plans new shale wells in 2013