Poland Imports First LNG

The LNG terminal at ?winouj?cie, Poland, adjacent to the German border, has just received its first cargo of LNG from Qatargas. 

The cargo, some 200,000 cubic meters of LNG from the 140,000 gt Q-flex LNG carrier Al Nuaman, will be used for cool-down and commissioning of the regasification terminal, and will not be distributed to end users. The next shipment, in February 2016, will be the first to reach customers. 

The ?winouj?cie LNG terminal, operated by Polskie LNG, can reportedly handle shipments of up to 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year, or about half of Poland's annual imports from Russia. It is part of Poland's efforts to diversify its energy supply away from a longstanding reliance on Russian gas. Russia has historically supplied about 60 percent of the country's gas, the majority of which is consumed by industrial chemical companies and heating plants, and Poland has long-term contracts with Russia's Gazprom requiring purchases through 2022.

In the days leading up to a general election in October, Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz visited the facility and promised “full independence” from Russian gas supplies beginning next year. “Next year, we’ll be fully independent from supplies from the east,” he told media. 

Russia's political leadership has shown a willingness to use natural gas supply and pricing as a tool for diplomatic leverage; in June 2014, during intense disputes over the Crimea, Russia dramatically raised the price of gas piped to Ukraine, then turned off the supply altogether following failed negotiations. The shutdown lasted for four months. 

Other measures to give Poland more control over its gas imports include a deal with Germany to upgrade a pumping station in the German city of Mallow to allow the reversal of pipeline flow. The pipeline, the Yamal-Europe line connecting Russian gas supplies to EU markets, can now be used to send natural gas back from Germany's network into Poland.