Poland gets first spot LNG cargo

Poland, that has recently joined the club of worldwide LNG importing nations received its first spot cargo of the chilled fuel aboard the 147,980 cbm Arctic Princess during the weekend.

The spot cargo was delivered on Saturday by Norway’s Statoil from its LNG facility on Melkoya island, Gaz System’s unit, Polskie LNG which operates the Polish first LNG terminal in Swinoujscie said.

Poland has recently received the first commercial cargo at the Swinoujscie LNG terminal from the world’s largest LNG exporter, Qatar under a 20-year contract Polish Gas and Oil Company (PGNiG) has with Qatargas.

Swinoujscie LNG terminal is Poland’s flagship project to diversify gas supplies and reduce dependence on pipeline imports from Russia.

The country’s first LNG terminal has been named after late President Lech Kaczyński who died in a plane crash in Russia in 2010.

The LNG terminal has since December last year received four cargoes of chilled gas in total. Three cargoes, including two for commissioning purposes, were delivered  from Qatar.

The latest cargo was booked through a tender seeking spot cargoes issued by PGNiG in May this year.

Under the long-term contract with Qatargas, Poland will receive around 1.3 billion cubic metres of gas per year. The second LNG shipment under the deal is expected in mid-July 2016.

The LNG terminal in Swinoujście is designed to receive, regasify and supply of up to 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to Polish transmission grid. There are plans on doubling the terminal’s capacity as well as adding LNG bunkering infrastructure.

LNG World News Staff