Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo (PGNiG) SA and companies from the Equinor ASA group have concluded purchase and sale agreements for natural gas produced on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The total volume of the signed contracts is 2.4 bcm of gas per year for 10 years. The gas supply will reach Poland through the Baltic Pipe pipeline.
“Equinor is a strategic business partner for PGNiG, which is in line with the policy of diversifying gas supplies to Poland. The signed contracts for the supply of gas, which will be shipped through the Baltic Pipe pipeline, are a significant strengthening of our country’s energy security”, says Iwona Waksmundzka-Olejniczak, President of the Management Board of PGNiG SA.
Equinor is a multi-source energy provider and a key supplier of gas to Europe for 45 years. “I am very pleased that, thanks to the gas supply agreements signed with PGNiG, we can also strengthen our position as a reliable partner for Poland. Equinor is already cooperating with Polish companies on offshore wind power projects and photovoltaic farms. We welcome the prospect of further strengthening our relationship with Poland through our cooperation with PGNiG”, says Irene Rummelhoff, Equinor’s vice president for marketing, midstream and processing.
The contracts between PGNiG SA and Equinor ASA group companies provide for the supply of up to 2.4 bcm of gas per year from 1 January 2023 to 1 January 2033. This will provide PGNiG with additional volumes of fuel to be sent to the country via the Baltic Pipe pipeline, which connects the Norwegian Continental Shelf to Poland, via Denmark. The pipeline, whose investors are Poland’s GAZ-SYSTEM and Denmark’s Energinet, will start transporting gas from 1 October 2022. Ultimately, it will have a capacity of about 10 bcm per year, of which PGNiG has reserved about 8.0 bcm per year. The capacity will be based on the PGNiG Group’s own production in Norway, which will amount to 3.0 bcm per year this year and could increase to 4.0 bcm per year in a few years’ perspective.
Adrian Andrzejewski