Natural gas consumption in Poland is on the rise, with LNG accounting for nearly 20 percent of imports, while natural gas from Russia comprised 74 percent of imports between January-August 2018, Polish Oil and Gas Company PGNiG announced on Wednesday.
PGNiG said compared to the corresponding period of 2017, between January and August 2018, LNG imports have risen by nearly 64 percent, while imports of natural gas from Russia have increased by 7 percent.
The company further noted that volatility in annual and quarterly volumes of Russian imports were not caused by any changes in the long-term contract.
'Such volumes must always exceed minimal volumes imposed by Gazprom under take-or-pay clause, but they have always been smaller than maximal annual volumes agreed years ago in the long-term contract expiring in 2022,' the Polish company explained.
It said that apart from natural gas extraction in Poland, which covers around 25 percent of Polish demand, PGNiG is importing growing volumes of natural gas from an increasing number of countries such as Qatar, the U.S., and Norway.
'Natural gas imports are on the rise in response to a rapid growth in domestic demand: natural gas consumption in Poland rose from 15 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2015 to 17 bcm in 2017,' PGNiG said.
'These numbers represent the most dynamic increase in the history of the Polish market, and account for one of the biggest increases in Europe,' the company added.
The company said that it has been continuing efforts to diversify sources and lines of natural gas supply, and has also been preparing for supplying the Polish market with natural gas extracted in the Norwegian Continental Shelf: from the end of 2022 it will flow through Baltic Pipe spanning across the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea.
'Furthermore, under multi-year contracts, which are currently being prepared, beginning from 2022 PGNiG will have an annual portfolio of over 4 million tons of LNG coming from the U.S.,' it added.
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr