PGNiG Increases Gas Sales

Poland's largest gas company PGNiG has increased gas sales by 300 million cubic metres for the first three quarters of 2012 compared to the first three quarters of last year.

The increase brings the company's gas sales up to 10.5 billion cubic metres of gas for the year to date compared to 10.2 billion cubic metres for the corresponding period last year. The volume of gas sold for the third quarter of this year remained comparable to that of the same quarter last year at 2.5 billion cubic metres.

Though PGNiG has ramped up its efforts in production in the last year, in an effort to decrease imports of the resource, production remained steady for the first three quarters of this year compared to same period last year, remaining constant at 3.2 billion cubic metres.

However, import figures have dropped from the year before. PGNiG reports that it imported 7.9 billion cubic metres of gas in the first three quarters of the year, a drop of 200 million cubic metres on the year before when imports reached 8.1 billion cubic metres for the corresponding period. Half of that drop in imports occurred in the most recent quarter, with a decrease of 100 million cubic metres for the third quarter of 2012.

PGNiG has increasingly sought to decrease its imports from other countries, particularly from Russia where a large majority of its imports are sourced. As such, the company has been seeking to increase its own production of gas, with a heavy focus on shale gas. 

The company published the figures in a statement yesterday ahead of the publishing of its third quarter financial results on the 12th of November 2012. PGNiG noted that these figures are estimates and may be subject to change at that time.