ORLEN Signs Five-Year Deal with KN Energies for LNG Terminal Operation in Klaipeda

ORLEN has signed a five-year contract with Lithuania’s KN Energies (formerly Klaipedos Nafta) for the exclusive use of a small-scale LNG receiving and transshipment station on the quay in Klaipeda. The gas received at this terminal will supply customers in northeastern Poland and will be distributed, among others markets, to the Baltic countries. So far, based on a previous agreement, the company has received nearly 60 thousand tons of liquefied natural gas in Klaipeda.

The agreement with KN Energies will be effective until the end of March 2030. The gas received by the ORLEN Group at the transshipment station in Lithuania will be transported by tankers and will reach customers mainly in northeastern Poland. It will be utilized by business customers and LNG regasification stations in areas where the gas network does not reach. It is a much more efficient solution than transportation from the Świnoujście gas port, which remains the main source of LNG supplies to Poland.

– The extension of cooperation with KN Energies is an important step in further strengthening the ORLEN Group’s position in the LNG market in the Baltic Sea basin. While the Świnoujście gas port remains a key LNG reception point for us, the terminal in Klaipeda plays an important complementary role and enables us to optimize logistics costs. The raw material received here, in addition to the Polish market, is distributed among other places to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, where we see a growing interest in cooperation with ORLEN – said Ireneusz Fąfara, President of the Board of ORLEN.

– We believe that the agreement we have entered into will contribute to further cooperation with the ORLEN Group and ensure favourable conditions for increasing the volumes of LNG loaded into road tankers at the transshipment terminal, thereby creating added value for the customer and for Poland as a whole, plus the remaining countries in the Baltic Sea region. Although the terminal itself is small, it has large potential and significant importance for the entire liquefied natural gas value chain. We greatly appreciate the constructive cooperation with partners in Poland – said Dariusz Šilenskis, President of KN Energies.

Deliveries of liquefied natural gas to the quay station in Klaipeda are carried out by floating units with a tank capacity 30 times smaller than conventional oceanic methane carriers. The station is equipped with five LNG tanks with a total capacity of 5 thousand cubic metres. It also has a dock adapted for reception and loading of liquefied natural gas onto small-scale floating units.

The ORLEN Group also receives large-scale LNG at a floating terminal in Klaipeda, operated by KN Energies. The company also utilizes long-term regasification capacities reserved until 2032. Under this agreement, the ORLEN Group can import more than 0.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year through the terminal. So far, it has received 10 shipments, with a volume of around 656 thousand tons of LNG. After regasification, a portion of the raw material was sold to customers from the Baltic States, while the rest was delivered to the Polish market via the Poland-Lithuania Pipeline launched in May 2022.