WARSAW—Poland will receive its first LNG from the U.S. in mid-June as a result of a deal Polish gas firm PGNiG signed with Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSE MKT: LNG), state-run PGNiG said on April 27.
Cheniere will make the spot delivery at the Swinoujscie terminal on the Baltic Sea.
Poland, which consumes around 15-16 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas annually, built its first LNG terminal in Swinoujscie as part of a bigger plan to reduce reliance on gas it imports from Russia’s Gazprom.
The terminal, which started commercial operations in 2016, has a capacity of 5 bcm per year.
Since then it has been receiving LNG from Qatargas, which in March agreed to double deliveries to 2 million tonnes (3 bcm) per year. It also took one delivery on the spot market from Norway.
“This is a historical moment for PGNiG. We have won a new partner in the LNG trade,” PGNiG CEO Piotr Wozniak said in a statement.
The ambition of Poland’s conservative Law and Justice government is to replace the Russian deliveries with other supplies after 2022, when the long-term deal with Gazprom expires.
“This is a very important agreement, favorable in financial terms,” Prime Minister Beata Szydlo told public broadcaster TVP Info.
Poland also plans to build a gas pipeline to the Norwegian shelf via the Baltic Sea.
Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told daily Rzeczpospolita that the U.S. could also participate in this project.
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