Polish gas giant PGNiG strikes deal for long-term LNG deliveries from US

Under the agreements with the US Port Arthur LNG and Venture Global LNG companies, the Polish gas giant aims to import more than 100 billion cubic metres of LNG from the United States over 20 years, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.

PGNiG’s CEO Piotr Woźniak was quoted as saying that the agreements, which the Polish company struck in Washington on Tuesday, “will not only allow further diversification of our import portfolio following 2022, but will also let us develop our trading competences and enable PGNiG's presence as a global LNG market player.”

US Port Arthur LNG and Venture Global LNG are building LNG terminals on the Gulf of Mexico that are expected to be completed in 2022 and 2023, according to IAR.

Once the facilities are ready, Poland will start importing 5.5 billion tonnes of LNG from this source a year, the news agency said.

It quoted Woźniak as saying that Poland aimed to rely on three sources of natural gas in five years: its own deposits, gas imported in liquefied form from the United States, and gas imported from Norway via a planned new pipeline known as the Baltic Pipe.

PGNiG in November signed a five-year deal for the supply of nine shipments of US LNG from the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal in Louisiana.

Poland’s gas grid operator Gaz-System this month selected its preferred route for the Baltic Pipe, a planned new link to Norway via Denmark that is expected to supply Poland with up to 10 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually as part of efforts to diversify supplies.

Poland aims to stop importing natural gas from Russia after 2022, according to officials.

(gs)

Source: IAR