Poland’s state-owned gas company PGNiG has booked additional regas capacity at the country’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Świnoujście.
PGNiG said it signed a deal on Monday with Gaz-System’s unit Polskie LNG, the operator of the Lech Kaczyński LNG import facility, under which it reserved an additional 35 percent of regas capacity at the LNG terminal in Świnoujście for a period of 18 years starting from January 2018.
The deal allows PGNiG to import LNG equal to 5 billion cubic metres a year.
Polish first LNG terminal is the country’s flagship project to diversify gas supplies and reduce dependence on pipeline imports from Russia.
PGNiG is in charge for all the LNG supplies coming to the import terminal that officially opened in June last year.
“The reservation of increased regasification capacity at the LNG terminal will enable the company to achieve its strategic objectives related to gas supply diversification and national energy security,” PGNiG said in a statement.
LNG imports via the Lech Kaczyński terminal doubled in the second quarter to 0.48 billion cubic metres (bcm) from 0.21 bcm last year.
In the first half, the LNG imports quadrupled to 0.86 bcm as compared to 0.21 bcm last year.