Poland Wants to Share Gas with Ukraine

Kyiv is offered to buy up to 6 billion cubic meters of gas Poland is looking for markets for American liquefied natural gas, which the Polish state-controlled oil and gas company will begin to receive in 2022. So, Warsaw proposes to supply up to 6 billion cubic meters of such gas to Ukraine already in 2021. However, sales in such volumes will be possible only if Poland does not refuse to purchase from Gazprom. On August 31, representatives of Poland, Ukraine and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding on gas supplies, which, in particular, concerns the supply of American liquefied gas through Poland to Ukraine. The Polish government’s chief energy strategist Piotr Naimski said at a press conference that as per 2021, Poland to supply Ukraine with up to 6 billion cubic meters of regasified LNG if the throughput of the gas pipeline at Hermanowice border is expanded. Now it is about 4.5 million cubic meters per day (1.6 billion cubic meters per year), but the Polish authorities are urging Ukraine to build a new gas pipeline 110 km long from the border with Poland to Europe’s largest Bilche Volitsky CGV. “We hope that the project of the Polish-Ukrainian interconnector will be completed on time,” Mr. Naimsky said. In turn, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry expressed hope that American LNG delivered through Poland “could help another ally, Ukraine, prevent the threat of a reduction in Russian gas supplies.” The Polish authorities have long sought to turn the LNG terminal in the local Świnoujście into a hub for the supply of liquefied gas to the countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. PGNiG has concluded contracts for the supply of 3.5 million tons (4.5 billion cubic meters) of LNG from the United States since 2022 and signed a memorandum for another 2 million tons. But the declared volumes of supplies to Ukraine contradict Warsaw’s concept of getting rid of dependence on Russian gas since 2022, when a long-term contract with Gazprom expires. The fact is that the upcoming expansion of the terminal in Świnoujście to 7.5 billion cubic meters, coupled with the construction of the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline from Norway (8 billion cubic meters), should just cover Poland’s gas import needs. If Poland plans to supply a significant volume to Ukraine, then it will need to continue purchases from Gazprom. Kommersant