Poland: Gaz-System Gets Award for Swinoujscie LNG Project

Gaz-System S.A. received the 2011 Seahorse Award, the annual business prize awarded by the Szczecin Business Club, for the performance of the LNG Terminal Construction Project in Świnoujście – the largest infrastructure investment in Western Pomerania.

The liquefied natural gas off-take and regasification terminal (LNG) is the largest and most important investment of Gaz-System S.A., and it is also a project that was acknowledged by the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland as being of strategic significance for the economy and energy security of Poland.

Gaz-System S.A. is also coordinating the entire investment and is the owner of the Polskie LNG S.A. Company, as well as being responsible for the construction and operations of the gas transmission pipeline on the Świnoujście-Szczecin route and the Gas Compressor Station in Goleniów.

“The construction of the first LNG terminal in the Baltic Sea region and its connection with the domestic transmission network via the Świnoujście-Szczecin gas pipeline is of key significance for improving the energy security of Poland and of the Western Pomeranian Voivodship. The LNG terminal will not only enable increasing gas supplies to the region but will also guarantee access to the competitive gas market,” Jan Chadam, President of the Management Board of Gaz-System S.A. asserted.

In the future, the investment will be an important element of the planned North-South Gas Corridor, which involves connecting the LNG Terminal in Świnoujście via southern Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary with the Adria LNG Terminal in Croatia. The gas corridor project will enable a new gas transmission route to be created in Europe which will facilitate efficiently harnessing new gas transmission pipelines in different countries.

In the first stage of operations, the terminal will enable the off-take of approx. 5 bcm of natural gas annually, which constitutes approx. 35% of the national consumption. As the demand increases, it will be possible to increase the off-take capacity of the Terminal even up to 7.5 bcm.

The LNG Terminal, along with the national transmission system, will connect the Świnoujście – Szczecin gas pipeline, which is approx. 80 km in length and 800 mm in diameter. The gas pipeline will cross the territories of five communes (Świnoujście, Międzyzdroje, Wolin, Stepnica and Goleniów) – from the LNG Terminal to the vicinity of the Gas Compressor station in Goleniów, where it will be encompassed in the domestic transmission system.

The construction of the LNG Terminal in Świnoujście is being carried out by a subsidiary of Gaz-System S.A. – Polskie LNG S.A. The Szczecin Maritime Authority and the Szczecin and Swinoujscie Seaports Authority are also involved in the investment by preparing the port infrastructure to receive tankers with a capacity of up to 216,000 m³. The date of completion of the construction and start-up is planned for 30 June 2014.

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LNG World News Staff, January 12, 2012