18-08-2023

ORLEN increases LNG import capacity

ORLEN will be able to receive up to 58 shipments of liquefied natural gas per year at the Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) terminal to be built in the Gulf of Gdansk. The company has finalized an agreement with GAZ-SYSTEM to reserve a regasification capacity of 6.1 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year at the Gdansk terminal. This is another step in the process of strengthening the energy independence of the country and the region.

‘Poland's fuel and energy security has been and continues to be a priority for us. The need to strengthen this security was one of the reasons for building a robust multi-utility group. Thanks to the merger with LOTOS, PGNiG, and Energa, we have the potential to engage in further projects important for the energy independence of the country and the region. One such project is the floating LNG terminal to be built in the Gulf of Gdansk, where ORLEN has reserved the entire regasification capacity. Together with the already operational President Lech Kaczyński terminal in Świnoujście, this will enable us to receive all the LNG supplied under the long-term contracts we have signed. Currently, this is almost 14 bcm of gas. This amount of the commodity, supplemented by supplies from Norway and our own domestic production, will allow us not only to fully satisfy the needs of Polish customers but also to offer gas to neighbouring markets. Thus ORLEN will be a guarantor of fuel and energy security not only for Poland but also for other countries in the region,’ said Daniel Obajtek, CEO and President of the Management Board of ORLEN.

The floating terminal in Gdansk will have the capacity to unload, store, and regasify up to 6.1 bcm of gas fuel per year. The start-up of the unit, as announced by Gas Transmission Operator GAZ-SYSTEM, which is implementing the project, is planned for January 1st 2028.

‘Last year, political events related to the war in Ukraine completely changed the directions of natural gas supplies to the European Union. We have seen an over 60% increase in LNG supplies from the global market. Poland is capitalizing on this trend and nurtures ambitions to become a gas hub for Central and Eastern Europe,’ said Anna Łukaszewska-Trzeciakowska, Secretary of State and Government Plenipotentiary for Strategic Energy Infrastructure.

The capacity reservation agreement, entered into within the framework of the Open Season FSRU procedure carried out by GAZ-SYSTEM, was concluded for 15 years.

‘The FSRU Terminal project, now endorsed by the ORLEN Group, is another element of the country's energy security based on sound economic rationale. After completing cross-border connections with Denmark, Lithuania, and Slovakia, and expanding the LNG Terminal in Świnoujście, this project will increase the gas diversification of Poland and the Intermarium,’ commented Marcin Chludziński, President of the Management Board of GAZ-SYSTEM.

The Gdansk terminal will be another location where the ORLEN Group will receive LNG supplies. Since 2016, the company has been receiving liquefied natural gas supplies at the President Lech Kaczyński Terminal in Świnoujście. To date, it has received 241 deliveries there with a total volume of approximately 19.06 million tonnes of LNG. Most shipments came from Qatar (123) and the US (98). LNG shipments were also received from Norway (13), Nigeria (3), Trinidad and Tobago (3), and Egypt (1).

Since May 2022, the Group has also been using the Klaipeda terminal in Lithuania where it has so far received 10 shipments with a total volume of approximately 655,000 tonnes of liquefied natural gas. After regasification, the gas is sent to Poland via the Poland-Lithuania gas pipeline; some of it is also directed to the markets of the Baltic countries.

LNG supplies to the ORLEN Group are one of the pillars of the strategy to diversify gas imports to Poland. The share of the commodity delivered by sea has been gradually increasing. In 2016, LNG accounted for only about 8 percent of gas supplies from abroad. In contrast, in 2022, LNG supplies accounted for as much as 43 percent of all imports and reached 6.04 bcm. This means that in 2022, around one-third of the gas consumed in Poland was delivered to the country by maritime vessels.