Another record year for LNG imports to Poland

In 2023, 62 shipments of liquefied natural gas arrived in Swinoujscie. This is four more cargoes than in the previous year. The intensification of raw material imports by sea allowed the volume of deliveries in 2023 to increase to approximately 4.66 million tonnes of LNG. This means that Orlen Group has fully utilised the reserved capacity of the Polish gas port.

The first full year of Poland’s independence from natural gas supplies from the east is behind us. In it, LNG has confirmed its role as one of the pillars of the country’s energy security system. The record number of LNG cargoes received by the Orlen Group is the result of investments that will continue in the coming years. The construction of our own fleet of gas carriers or the reservation of full regasification capacity in the new floating terminal in the Gulf of Gdansk is a guarantee of stable supplies to Polish customers and a significant strengthening of the Group’s position in the region,” says Daniel Obajtek, President of the Orlen Management Board.

Since the beginning of the Lech Kaczynski Terminal in Świnoujście, 268 cargoes of liquefied natural gas have arrived at the gas port. In 2023 alone, this balance increased by 62 deliveries with a total volume of approximately 4.66 million tonnes of LNG. The last cargo arrived at the terminal on 29 December under a long-term contract with Qatar’s partner QuatarEnergyLNG (formerly Qatargas). The gas carrier Al Sahla delivered around 90,000 tonnes of liquefied gas.

The number of LNG cargoes received by Orlen Group has gradually increased recently. In 2021, 35 LNG carriers called at the Świnoujście terminal. In 2022, 58 deliveries were made with a total volume of 4.4 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas, which made it possible to satisfy approximately one-third of the domestic demand for raw materials.

In 2023, the main direction from which LNG was imported to Poland was the United States. 41 ships sailed from US ports to Świnoujście for long-term and spot purchases. Qatar came second with 19 deliveries. Each shipment went to the Swinoujscie gas port from Trinidad and Tobago and Equatorial Guinea.

In strengthening the role of LNG in the national energy security system, developing the country’s fleet of gas carriers is important. In October 2023, a naming ceremony was held at the Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries shipyard in Korea for two more Orlen Group vessels – the Saint Barbara and the Ignacy Łukasiewicz. They thus join the ships Lech Kaczyński and Grażyna Gęsicka, already sailing in international waters. The latter delivered 8 LNG cargoes to Poland in 2023 with a total volume of over 0.5 million tonnes.

Further intensification of domestic LNG imports and development of the company’s operations in this segment will be enabled, among other things, by commissioning the second Polish gas port in the Gulf of Gdansk, planned for 2028. Orlen Group has reserved full regasification capacity there, amounting to 6.1 bcm per year. Once the investment is commissioned and the expansion of the President Lech Kaczyński LNG Terminal in Świnoujście is completed, the combined capacity of both facilities will increase to approximately 14 bcm.

Source: PortalMorski.pl