5 million tonnes of oil from ORLEN Petrobaltic offshore field

In February 2025, oil production from the Polish B3 field exceeded 5 million tonnes. ORLEN Petrobaltic has been exploiting them continuously for 31 years for Poland’s energy needs. The oil is located there at a depth of 1,450 m below the bottom of the Baltic Sea, and the sea depth reaches 80 m.

The B3 field is located approximately 70 km north of Rozewie. Raw material extraction is carried out using two platforms: Baltic Beta and the unmanned PG-1, which together operate 10 production wells. The B3 field produces light and low-sulphur Brent crude oil. Its average production is 236 tonnes per day. To date, the B3 field has also produced more than 535 million Nm³ of gas. Its production will continue until 2031, in accordance with the current licence expiry date.

– Production from Poland’s first oil field located under the Baltic Sea floor has enabled ORLEN Petrobaltic to grow and succeed as the only Polish oil company in the industry. Adverse sea conditions often required maximum commitment and use of the company’s potential and the competence of our employees. The crew of the Baltic Beta platform has shown that people are the biggest capital of ORLEN Petrobaltic and the main source of our success – says Wiesław Prugar, President of the Management Board of ORLEN Petrobaltic. – We want to participate in the energy transformation and use the potential of our company, the unique skills and experience of ORLEN Petrobaltic’s technical personnel to implement new, innovative solutions, including projects related to carbon dioxide storage (CCS) in the Baltic Sea area,’ he adds.

The first ever oil from the B3 field flowed during a production test on 16 May 1992 from the B3-6 well, drilled from Petrobaltic’s drilling platform. The first 5497 cubic metres of produced oil were transported by tanker Tarnobrzeg to the Northern Port in Gdansk. It was a long-awaited moment on which the future of the company depended – the financing of further drilling to confirm the reserves and allow for the full development of the B3 field.

Two years later, on 13 April 1994, Petrobaltic was awarded a licence to produce oil and gas from the B3 field. The drilling platform served its purpose and the production centre of Poland’s first offshore oil mine became the Baltic Beta production platform.

In 2003, a gas compression system was installed on the platform, a gas power turbine was installed and an 80 km-long subsea gas pipeline was laid to Władysławowo. Since then, the gas accompanying the oil has been transmitted onshore to power Energobaltic’s CHP plant, and the heat generated there is distributed to the local market, to individual and institutional customers.

ORLEN Petrobaltic is the only Polish mining company involved in the exploration and production of oil and gas fields on the Polish Baltic Sea shelf, comprehensive logistics services for the offshore industry – including offshore wind energy, marine exploration services and fleet management.

Specialist company ORLEN Petrobaltic has been operating in the offshore mining industry for 34 years, extracting oil and gas from beneath the bottom of the Baltic Sea, contributing to Poland’s energy independence.

Source: PortalMorski.pl