PGNiG reports growing LNG imports in 2018
Published by David Rowlands,
Editor
LNG Industry,
In 2018, the company imported more than 0.62 billion m3 less natural gas from Russia than in the previous year (down 6.4%). According to the statement, imports from the East totalled approximately 9.04 billion m3, compared to approximately 9.66 billion m3 in 2017.
PGNiG went on to say that LNG imports (from Qatar, Norway and the US) in 2018 increased by almost 1 billion m3 (+58.2%) and reached more than 2.71 billion m3 (after regasification). This is compared to the previous year, when approximately 1.72 billion m3 of LNG was imported (after regasification).
As a result, imports from the eastern direction last year accounted for 66.8% of the company’s entire import volume (compared to 88.9% in 2016).
According to the statement, LNG imports accounted for more than 20% of the import volume (in 2016 – 8.4%). The remaining volume is covered by imports from the western and southern directions.
Throughout last year, the company imported approximately 13.53 billion m3 of natural gas to Poland. According to the domestic forecast, production reached a total of 3.8 billion m3.
Maciej WoLniak, PGNiG's Vice-President for Commercial Affairs, said: “The take or pay clause in the Yamal contract signed in the mid-1990s obliges PGNiG to pay Gazprom until the end of 2022 for approximately 85% of the contracted volumes of gas, regardless of whether we bring them to Poland or not.
“We must therefore continue to make such purchases for four more years to come but we are trying to reduce them to the contractually required level. Especially that gas under the Yamal contract is sold to Poland on non-market terms – we have been in arguing on this case before the Stockholm Court of Arbitration for several years now. In addition, our operations still are exposed to the risk of unexpected interruption of supply from the East, as we have already experienced on several occasions. Therefore, our current priority is to build an alternative, long-term portfolio of secure supplies from 2023 onwards, based on market principles and prices. This portfolio will be based on both LNG and gas from the Norwegian shelf imported via the Baltic Pipe.”
In the statement, PGNiG says that it has been successfully carrying out its strategy of reducing the dependence on a single dominant supplier. In addition to the expansion of the LNG portfolio, the company is preparing to start supplying the Polish market with gas produced on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, following the launch of transmission via the Baltic Pipe interconnection through the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea at the end of 2022.
The company claims that the significant increase in LNG imports last year was largely a result of the additional agreement with Qatargas signed in 2017. After 2020, annual imports from Qatar may even reach 2.7 billion m3 after regasification. Furthermore, already in 2019 the first LNG deliveries from Cheniere will reach Poland under long-term contracts concluded in 2018 with suppliers from the US. Thanks to contracts for the purchase of American LNG, in the years 2023 – 2042, PGNiG claims that it will have an incremental yearly portfolio of over 7.3 billion m3 after regasification (approximately 5.5 million t of liquefied gas).
Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/regasification/09012019/pgnig-reports-growing-lng-imports-in-2018/
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