PGNiG receives 150th LNG cargo

Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) has received the 150th LNG cargo delivery at the Swinoujscie liquefied natural gas terminal.

The milestone cargo that came from the U.S. arrived at President Lech Kaczyński LNG terminal in Świnoujście on 18 January. PGNiG bought this 70,000 tonnes of cargo on the spot market.

PGNiG says that it has already imported about 17 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas to Poland this way. In 2021, the company’s LNG imports amounted to 3.94 bcm after regasification and increased from 3.76 bcm in 2020.

Meanwhile, the LNG carrier that transported the cargo was one of several dozen that left for Europe from the U.S. LNG at the end of 2021. This was a change compared to the previous months when most of the LNG from the U.S. went to Asia. This resulted in the limited availability of gas in Europe, and therefore also increased its prices on European exchanges.

“The turmoil on the gas market did not in any way affect the timeliness of the deliveries contracted by us; we carry out supplies under long-term contracts, as well as spot purchases. LNG import is one of the pillars of our mission to ensure energy security for Poland and Poles”, said Paweł Majewski, president of the PGNiG management board. 

“The redirection of LNG supplies to Europe again gave the market some breath and hope; although there is still little gas available for purchase on the market. This is one of the examples of factors influencing the gas price on European exchanges that affect gas prices on the Polish Power Exchange. The very information about methane carriers with American gas on their way to Europe contributed to the reduction of gas prices on the Dutch market in those days by several dozen percent.”

Of the 150 cargoes PGNiG received so far, 95 came from Qatar, 40 from the USA, 13 from Norway, one from Trinidad and Tobago, and one from Nigeria.