The 300th shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has arrived in Świnoujście, Poland. The cargo was delivered in the tanks of the LNG carrier Prism Courage from the United States. Marine deliveries of LNG are one of the pillars of Poland’s gas security. Since the launch of the terminal in Świnoujście, the company has received almost 24 million tons of this raw material via this method.
“Natural gas is a raw material of strategic importance for the fuel and energy security of Poland. Almost 50% of all blue fuel imports to the country are LNG. We diversify its supply routes by sea due to the consistent strengthening of cooperation with partners from around the world and building our fleet of LNG carriers, which will grow by additional units next year. This will guarantee our independence and supply stability and will strengthen our position in the global LNG market,” says Ireneusz Fąfara, CEO of ORLEN.
The total volume of all 300 shipments is approximately 358.9 TWh, which corresponds to 23.6 million tonnes of LNG (over 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in a gaseous state). This amount of fuel would be enough to provide gas to all households in Poland consuming this fuel for over six years.
The reception of LNG in Świnoujście has been one of the pillars of Poland’s gas import diversification strategy from the start. The share of sea shipments in terms of the total supply of this raw material is steadily increasing. In 2016, LNG accounted for only approximately 8 percent of foreign gas deliveries. By 2023, this figure will increase to almost 46 percent of all blue fuel imports to Poland.
Most LNG shipments have arrived in Świnoujście from Qatar, from where 143 cargoes have been delivered so far. The United States, which has been the main source of liquefied natural gas imports since 2022, accounted for 134 deliveries. Norway – 14 shipments, Nigeria – 3 deliveries, Trinidad and Tobago – also with 3 deliveries, Egypt – 2 shipments, and Equatorial Guinea – 1 shipment.
Developing our own fleet of LNG carriers is significant for strengthening the role of LNG in the national energy security system. The ORLEN Group will own eight units, four of which are already being used. The remaining carriers are planned to be received by the end of 2025.
The growing dynamics of the import of liquefied natural gas into Poland is shown by the increasingly shorter time between deliveries. The 100th LNG cargo arrived in Świnoujście in July 2020, i.e. over four years after the launch of the terminal. The second hundred took almost half as much time as at the beginning, only 28 months. ORLEN received the next hundred shipments in Świnoujście within the next 20 months.
The further increase in LNG imports and the development of the company’s activities in this segment will be facilitated by the completion of the expansion of the President Lech Kaczyński LNG Terminal in Świnoujście and the planned launch of a second, Polish LNG terminal in the Gulf of Gdansk in 2028. As a result of these investments, the combined annual throughput of both installations will exceed 500 billion cubic feet of natural gas in a gaseous state.
Source: https://managerplus.pl/orlen-odebral-w-swinoujsciu-300-ladunek-lng-81879
