Poland to receive first LNG cargo by year-end

Poland’s LNG import terminal in Świnoujście will receive its first cargo of the chilled gas by the end of 2015.

Gaz-System’s unit Polskie LNG, which is building the import terminal, said on Wednesday that it has concluded talks regarding the project completion with the construction consortium led by Italy’s Saipem.

Polskie LNG and the consortium signed an annex to the original contract where the EPC contractor “committed itself to complete construction works and receive the first LNG cargo this year,” the company said in a statement.

The second delivery of LNG designated for operational tests will be supplied in the first quarter of 2016, while commercial operations of the terminal will commence in the second quarter of the same year, Polskie LNG said.

The start-up of Poland’s first LNG terminal has been delayed several times with the original date which was set for the end of June last year.

Saipem said earlier this year it would finish construction of the LNG terminal this summer only if it received further payment.

“The contractual lump sum remuneration due to the EPC contractor will remain unchanged, thus the investor will not incur any additional expenses in relation to project implementation,” Polskie LNG said.

The total contractual lump sum remuneration amounts to 2.4 billion zlotys ($635.8 million).

The LNG project in Świnoujście is more than 98.2 percent complete, according to the statement.

In the first stage of operation, Polskie LNG’s facility will enable the regasification of 5 Bcm of natural gas annually.

Polskie LNG has earlier this year signed a contract with Tractebel Engineering to conduct a feasibility study for the expansion of the terminal involving the construction of a third storage tank and accompanying investment.

The expansion would include adding LNG reloading service for smaller vessels, through which the terminal could become a reloading depot for smaller installations operating in the region, as well as for bunkering vessels with LNG.

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