From the Sabine Pass terminal in the United States, the first of eight gas carriers that will deliver LNG to Orlen Group has set off for Poland. “It will deliver approximately 70,000 tonnes of LNG”, announced PGNiG, which belongs to Orlen Group, on Twitter.

It should be recalled that last December, a ceremony was held in Ulsan, South Korea, marking the naming of two LNG vessels ordered by PGNiG Supply & Trading, an Orlen Group company specialising in LNG trading.

The first vessel was named ‘Lech Kaczyński’, whereas the second was given the name ‘Grażyna Gęsicka’. The gas carrier named ‘Lech Kaczyński’ entered service in the colours of Orlen Group at the beginning of 2023 and is the one transporting liquefied gas from the USA. The vessel named ‘Grażyna Gęsicka’ is expected to start transporting LNG in the second half of 2023.

In the first two weeks of February alone, nearly 200,000 tonnes of LNG arrived in Poland this year. On 15 February, the Hoegh Galleon gas carrier brought the 215th delivery of liquefied natural gas from the USA to the LNG terminal in Świnoujście. The unit delivered approximately 31,500 tonnes of LNG. A few days earlier, on 11 February, a cargo with a volume of about 90 thousand tonnes of LNG arrived in Poland from Qatar on the gas carrier AL UTOURIYA. On 6 February, the Maran Gas vessel Apollonia delivered approximately 70 thousand tonnes of LNG from the USA.

In mid-December 2022, PKN Orlen convinced that its own offshore fleet would provide Orlen Group with efficient transport of liquefied natural gas to Poland and strengthen the company’s position on the global LNG market.

It also announced that in 2023 Orlen Group will have two LNG carriers constructed to meet its needs, and by the end of 2025 the number of such gas carriers is expected to increase to eight units.

Adrian Andrzejewski