Poland’s dominant gas firm PGNiG said that liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports via the country’s regasification facility in Swinoujscie rose almost 34 percent in the first quarter.
According to PGNiG’s preliminary operating report released last week, LNG imports reached 1.07 billion cubic meters in the January-March period. This compares to 0.80 bcm in the same period last year.
On the other side, the firm said pipeline gas imports from Russia dropped to 2.15 bcm compared with 2.26 bcm in the first quarter of last year.
PGNiG is in charge of all the supplies coming to the Swinoujscie import terminal operated by Gaz-System. The firm also showed interest in Gaz-System’s planned FSRU-based LNG terminal in Gdansk Bay.
Earlier this year, the firm said it had planned to receive five LNG cargoes in March at the facility in Swinoujscie, marking a new record on a monthly basis for the country’s only regasification plant.
PGNiG bought most of these cargoes on the spot market as European countries are boosting LNG imports in order to reduce reliance on Russian gas.
The firm gets most of its LNG supplies under long-term contracts from Qatargas and Cheniere.
In addition, PGNiG finalized a deal las last year to buy more LNG from US exporter Venture Global LNG, amending an original contract concluded back in 2018.
As a result, PGNiG’s contracted volume from Venture Global LNG will increase to 5.5 million mt or 7.4 bcm of gas per year.
The company is also buidling a fleet of chartered LNG ships. PGNiG recently said it had chartered four more LNG carriers, boosting its fleet of chartered newbuilds to eight vessels.
Besides these newbuilds, PGNiG has also chartered three already built LNG carriers, each with a capacity of about 160,000 cbm.