Light a Flame for Shale Gas Development

PGNiG SA, the Polish Oil and Gas Company has launched a campaign to gain public support of shale gas development.

"Flame of Hope" campaign is designed to indicate to the European Parliament that unconventional gas development has broad support, and that it should not be subject to any action that would impact its prospects negatively.

Marek Karabuła, vice president of the Management Board of PGNiG SA, appealed to individual Poles to visit www.plomiennadziei.eu and to vote to indicate their support for Poland’s opportunity for new jobs, a higher standard of living secure and energy independence.

Karabula and Nicholas Budzanowski, Poland’s Deputy Treasury Secretary, stressed that all exploration and development would take place with a view to minimizing the impact on environment and in a manner not to be burdensome to the local community.

PGNiG recently announced that it had begun test production on its Wejherowo license in northern Poland, on the Baltic coast.

The company said that baseline monitoring at the Lubocino-1 well at Wejherowo, which included soil and air analysis from the drilling site,and the analysis of water from nearby wells and surface streams, indicated no negative environmental impact.

The company said that it was preparing to drill the Lubocino 2H horizontal well and to undertake further fracturing treatments for this concession.

PGNiG has 15 licenses for unconventional and conventional hydrocarbon exploration in Poland.

It plans to carry out six shale gas exploration drillings in 2012 and is currently preparing to drill the Lubycza Krolewska well in the Tomaszow Lubelski concession.