Poland’s Orlen boosts small-scale LNG sales

In 2024, the group delivered nearly 244 thousand tonnes of LNG to customers, marking an almost 30 percent increase year-on-year.

Orlen said the LNG volumes are sourced from the Swinoujscie terminal in Poland, which is the primary sales hub for the group’s LNG operations, as well as from the transshipment terminal in Lithuania’s Klaipėda and the company’s own production facilities.

Poland’s state-owned LNG terminal operator Gaz-System recently completed the expansion of its import LNG facility in Swinoujscie.

Orlen is in charge of all of the supplies coming to Gaz System’s LNG import terminal via PGNiG.

Over 11,000 trucks departined from the Swinoujscie LNG loading bays last year to deliver 197,000 tonnes of gas to customers.

Orlen noted that the Swinoujscie terminal receives LNG shipments brought by tankers from countries such as the US, Qatar, and Norway.

While most of the imported volumes are regasified and injected into the transmission pipeline network, a portion remains in its liquefied state, enabling its delivery to customers via specialised cryogenic tanker trucks and containers.

In addition to the sales operations conducted at the LNG terminal, Orlen produces LNG at its facilities in Odolanów and Grodzisk Wielkopolski.

It has also been selling LNG from the Klaipėda transshipment terminal since 2020.

Orlen marketed over 22,000 from Odolanow and Grodzisk Wielkopolski, and 25,000 tonnes from Klaipeda.

Key recipients of LNG include industrial customers across various sectors, as well as private consumers connected to off-grid gas systems, which rely on LNG deliveries that are subsequently regasified at local stations.

Orlen noted that LNG is also used in regions having access to the national distribution network where demand for gas exceeds the capacity of existing pipelines.

In such cases, LNG regasification stations help bridge the gap in gas supply, ensuring that customer needs are fully met, it said.