Page 7 - FSUOGM Week 36 2021

FSUOGM PIPELINES & TRANSPORT FSUOGM

PGNiG expands US LNG

shipments

POLAND POLISH gas firm PGNiG has finalised a deal to natural gas as “a bridge fuel” in Poland’s energy
buy an extra 2mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG transition.
from US developer Venture Global, the compa- “At the same time, access to American LNG
nies announced on September 2. gives us opportunity to develop the trade of this
The deal covers supplies for 20 years, and fuel on the global market,” he said.
raises PGNiG’s total purchases to 5.5mn tpy, In late July PGNiG chartered two more LNG
or 7.4bn cubic metres of regasified volumes. carriers for 10 years or more from Norway’s
PGNiG will increase shipments from the Cal- Knutsen, after chartering two others in 2020. The
casieu Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana from 1.0 new vessels will be delivered in 2024.
to 1.5mn tpy. Venture Global took a final invest-
ment decision (FID) on the project in August Ukrainian expansion
2019 and construction is underway. It is set to Poland is expanding its LNG terminal in
begin exports next year. Swinoujscie and is considering building a second
PGNiG has also increased supplies from in Gdansk. Its Baltic Pipe, due online in late 2022,
the 10mn tpy Plaquemines LNG terminal, also will meanwhile bring in up to 10 bcm per year of
situated in Louisiana, to 4.0 from 2.5mn tpy. gas from Norway. The country is also building a
Construction is anticipated to begin later this new interconnector with Lithuania and PGNiG
year ahead of the facility’s launch in 2023. The has begun exploring west Ukraine for additional
terminal will have an initial capacity of 10mn supply to pump back home.
tpy, which could be upscaled to 20mn tpy at a PGNiG announced a deal on August 31
later stage. to buy an 85% stake in an exploration licence
PGNiG will take the supplies from Venture in the Lviv region from Energy Resources of
Global on a free-on-board (FOB) basis. Ukraine (ERU). The company said geology at the
Commenting on the deal, Venture Global Byblivska licence was analogous to the largest gas
CEO Mike Sabel said the deal would help Poland field in Poland, Przemysl.
not only diversify its energy mix, but also reduce This agreement builds on an investment
its carbon emissions. Warsaw wants to replace deal PGNiG signed with ERU in October last
more coal with gas in its energy mix, but is estab- year on exploration in west Ukraine. Earlier
lishing more import options to avoid this policy this year it also agreed to conduct joint explora-
increasing its reliance on Russian gas. tion work with Ukraine’s national gas company
PGNiG president Pawel Majewski described Naftogaz.™

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