Poland’s dominant gas firm and LNG importer, PGNiG, said it has received a record number of cargoes at the regasification facility in Swinoujscie, as part of efforts to strengthen the European country’s energy security.
According to a statement on Tuesday, the 180,000-cbm GasLog Westminster delivered the sixth LNG cargo in May to the Swinoujscie import terminal operated by Gaz-System.
This marks a monthly record for deliveries to the facility and the total volume of May deliveries reached some 450,000 tonnes of LNG or some 620 million cubic meters of natural gas after regasification, PGNiG said.
The 2020-built LNG carrier owned by GasLog and chartered by Centrica delivered about 73,000 tonnes of LNG or some 100 million cubic meters of natural gas after regasification.
PGNiG did not reveal the source of the shipment but its AIS data provided by VesselsValue shows that it previously picked up the cargo at Cheniere’s Corpus Christi plant in Texas.
The Polish firm is in charge of all the supplies coming to the Swinoujscie import terminal operated by Gaz-System.
The facility receives cargoes under PGNiG’s long-term deals with Qatargas and Cheniere, and the spot market.
LNG imports to continue to rise
Since the beginning of the year, PGNiG has received 20 cargoes of LNG at the regasification plant, about one-third more than in the same period last year.
PGNiG also imported its first cargo of LNG in May via the Klaipedos Nafta-operated FSRU-based facility in the port of Klaipeda, as part of efforts to diversify supplies to Poland.
The rise in LNG imports is PGNiG’s response to the “tense situation on the European gas market caused by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and restrictions on fuel supplies from the East,” the firm said.
In April, Russia’s Gazprom had cut supplies to Poland via the Yamal pipeline.
PGNiG said the growth of LNG imports is possible due to the expansion of the facility in Swinoujscie, where the firm has booked a regasification capacity of 6.2 bcm per annum since this year. This is some 1.2 bcm more than before.
Thanks to further investments, the capacity will increase to 8.3 bcm of gas per year in 2024 while PGNiG has booked all of these volumes as well.
Besides this facility, PGNiG also showed interest in Gaz-System’s planned FSRU-based LNG terminal in Gdansk Bay.
Recent local media reports also suggest that Poland could install a second FSRU in Gdansk due to high interest in regasified LNG supplies from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
US volumes
As of next year, PGNiG will start receiving 1.5 million tons of LNG per year or 2 bcm of natural gas from Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass terminal under a long-term contract.
In May, a PGNiG-chartered LNG carrier delivered the first shipment from the Calcasieu Pass export plant in Louisiana to Poland under a spot contract.
PGNiG also has a long-term agreement with Venture Global to receive 4 million tons per year or about 5.3 bcm of natural gas from the Plaquemines liquefaction terminal in Louisiana.
Venture Global recently announced it had taken a final investment decision for the 13.33 mtpa Plaquemines LNG project and the related pipeline after it secured $13.2 billion in project financing.
Besides Venture Global’s project, PGNiG is also looking to buy LNG from Sempra Infrastructure’s two liquefaction and export plants in the US.