PGNiG Tests Waters for CNG Facility Off Gdansk
By Eric Martin, London
Polish company considering new receiving option in the Baltic Sea
Polish oil and gas player PGNiG is putting out feelers for a proposed compressed natural gas terminal even as a deal is set to close on construction of the country’s first LNG facility.
A company spokeswoman said that proposed CNG project involves installing an offshore buoy near the port city of Gdansk, which would be connected by subsea pipelines to an onshore natural gas storage facility.
She emphasized that the proposal is still a long way from an investment decision. PGNiG is mulling a scheme that could see it compressing gas off Norway and shipping it on CNG vessels to the new terminal.
“Currently the works are underway to analyze possibilities of getting access to CNG resources on the Norwegian Continental Shelf,” the spokeswoman said. “The project constitutes a supplement to strategic investments aimed at diversification of natural gas supplies to Poland.”
The Warsaw-listed company is involved in the NCS region through its PGNiG Norway subsidiary, which aims to become an operator on the shelf in addition to building and running gas transportation infrastructure projects.
The spokeswoman declined to discuss the proposed CNG terminal’s potential capacity or its timeframe. A market analyst noted that Poland may not have the gas demand to support a second import terminal in the country but could use such projects only to guarantee reliability of supply.
Although CNG transport has yet to enter the market at any significant scale, it is still viewed by some in the market as a potential future competitor to LNG because it would do away with expensive liquefaction and regasification facilities. Poland’s Polskie LNG is gearing up to sign a contract this month that would lead to construction of the country’s maiden LNG terminal at Swinoujscie, a project launched by PGNiG before the government transferred it to pipeline player Gas-System.
Italian trio Saipem, Techint and Snamprogetti with domestic construction outfit PBG have been named the preferred bidders.
The $735 million LNG terminal is planned to begin operations is April 2014 at an annual capacity of 2.5 million tonnes.
