SEATTLE (Oil Monster): Poland has moved a step closer to completing its second liquefied natural gas terminal following the launch of the floating storage and regasification unit destined for the facility.
South Korea's HD Hyundai Heavy Industries launched the FSRU at its Ulsan shipyard earlier this month, marking completion of the vessel's main structural work and the start of the next phase of the project, Poland’s state run gas pipeline operator Gaz-System said in a statement on Tuesday.
Gaz-System said that the FSRU —which has yet to be named — is expected to arrive in the Gulf of Gdansk on the Baltic Sea by the end of 2027. The FSRU is due to being regasification operations in the first quarter of 2028, it added.
Poland already operates an LNG terminal in the Baltic port of Swinoujscie, but the Gdansk terminal will be the first to use an FSRU, rather than onshore regasification facilities.
“We are developing infrastructure that not only allows us to effectively diversify our natural gas supply sources, but also increasingly consolidates our position as a regional energy hub and a key link in the European security of supply chain,” Poland's Minister of Energy, Milosz Motyka, said in the Gaz-System statement.
“The FSRU programme and successive investment projects undertaken by Gaz-System are increasing our import capacity, opening up new prospects for international cooperation and building a lasting strategic advantage for Poland in the energy sector,” he added.
The Gdansk terminal’s first phase has an annual import capacity of 6.1 billion cubic metres, all of which is booked by the country’s largest oil and gas company Orlen. If Gaz-System takes a final investment decision on a second phase, it would boost the import capacity by a further 4.5 Bcma.
Once the first phase of the Gdansk terminal is operational, LNG will account for the majority of Poland's gas imports.
Last year, the East European country imported most of its gas via the Baltic Pipe, a system that transports gas from Norway to Denmark and Poland.
Upgrades to the the Swinoujscie facility, which entered operation in 2016, were completed at the end of 2025, bringing the terminal's capacity to about 8.3 Bcma.
The country also has an option to import LNG from a gas terminal in the Lithuanian Baltic Sea port of Klaipeda, which has a capacity of 3.75 Bcma and is linked by pipeline to Poland’s gas trunkline network.
In its latest financial report, Orlen said that Poland’s annual gas imports rose to about 19.3 Bcm in 2025, up 23% year on year. Supply via the Baltic Pipe increased by 23% from the previous year, accounting for 46% of total imported volumes.
LNG regasification was the second largest source of gas in 2025, representing 42% of total gas imports. The remaining balance of gas supplies came via interconnectors with Germany, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Slovakia, according to Orlen.
Orlen said that domestic consumption of natural gas was about 19.6 Bcm in 2025, an increase of 6.8% from 2024, fuelled largely by a 11% increase in gas demand from the power generation sector.
Courtesy: www.upstreamonline.com
