There’s no Russian gas coming through pipelines in Poland since April 27. Gazprom announced a suspension of supplies after Poland refused to pay for gas in rubles.
In 2018-2020, 80% of natural gas in Poland came from foreign supplies. As reported by NIK (Supreme Audit Office), in 2020 approximately 18 billion m3 of gas was delivered to Poland, of which 9.8 billion m3 from Russia.
The minister of climate and environment, Anna Moskwa, emphasized that in recent years, activities aimed at diversifying gas supplies and investing in gas infrastructure have been carried out in Poland.
As part of the process of becoming independent from Russian gas supplies, work is underway on three gas pipelines:
– Baltic Pipe – two-way gas transmission connecting Norway, Denmark and Poland. Thanks to the investment, 10 billion m3 of gas will be delivered to Poland annually, and from Poland to Denmark – 3 billion m3 of gas per year.
– Poland-Lithuania – two-way gas transmission – approx. 1.9 billion m3 of gas will be delivered to Poland annually, and from Poland – 2.4 billion m3 of gas per year.
– Poland-Slovakia – two-way gas transmission – approx. 5.7 billion m3 of gas will be delivered to Poland annually and from Poland – 4.7 billion m3 of gas per year
Additionally, the Świnoujście LNG (liquified natural gas) terminal is under development. Thanks to an additional installation, from the end of 2023, liquefied gas will be converted into its gaseous form in the amount of 6.2 billion m3 per year.
Anna Moskwa assured that Poland has the necessary gas reserves and sources of supply that protect its security, and that Polish warehouses are 76% full of gas.
The deputy minister of climate and environment, Ireneusz Zyska, announced that a large support program for biogas plants and biomethane plants is being prepared together with the ministry of agriculture. He stressed that the government’s strategic goal is to become independent from Russian hydrocarbon supplies. At the same time, he pointed out that in order to fill the gap left by Russian gas, it is necessary to increase the production of biomethane in the Polish mix, which can be injected into the gas network. He recalled that appropriate legal regulations are being prepared to strengthen the development of this sector (there is a draft amendment to the act on renewable energy sources). He estimated that in Poland we can produce as much as 1.5 billion m3 of biomethane annually until 2030. However, he pointed out that the potential is much higher and, according to estimates, may even amount to 8 billion m3 of gas per year.