Shale gas extraction still viable in Poland: PGNiG CEO

Piotr Woźniak, CEO of Polish gas giant PGNiG, said that his company could be interested in resuming efforts to exploit domestic shale gas deposits if the government relaxed the regulatory environment and the tax regime.

Woźniak also said in an interview with Poland’s PAP news agency that companies interested in drilling for shale gas in Poland were scared away by high taxes under the country’s previous authorities.

Shale gas “is not a closed case,” Woźniak told PAP, indicating that his PGNiG has temporarily “suspended” such projects and could take a renewed interest in shale gas if the government improved “the regulatory environment, but first and foremost, relaxed the tax regime,” which he said was the main factor that “stopped us in our tracks.”

Woźniak also said: "We have not written off shale gas. The status of the shale gas project at PGNiG is ‘suspended’.”

He added: “If there were fiscal incentives, at least somewhat similar to those available in America, we would be ready to conduct analyses and consider returning” to shale gas projects in the Pomerania region of northern Poland or the Lublin region in the east.

Other companies would likely follow suit, Woźniak suggested.

Global oil firms were attracted to Poland a few years ago in the belief the country could enjoy the kind of shale gas boom seen in the United States.

But in June 2015, US firm ConocoPhillips announced its departure from three concessions in Poland. Earlier the same decision had been made by a number of other companies.

(gs/pk)

Source: PAP