Business Week: Poland to Get Baltic LNG Terminal on Time as Costs Increase

The terminal at the northwestern port of Swinoujscie, originally scheduled for completion last June, will allow Poland to import as much as 5 billion cubic meters of gas by sea, or about a third of its annual usage. The country now imports about 10 billion cubic meters from Russia. It’s speeding up development of domestic shale gas deposits and expanding links to other neighbors to further diversify supply before its contract with OAO Gazprom (GAZP) expires in 2022.

The project has suffered cost overruns since a group of companies led by Italy’s Saipem SpA (SPM), which also includes Poland’s PBG SA, won the contract in 2010. Poland agreed to pay 13 percent more than originally budgeted last year, bringing the terminal’s cost to 2.37 billion zloty ($762 million).

“The terminal will be ready by mid-2015,” Jacek Balcer, head of corporate communications at PBG, said by phone today. “Changes in the law have increased construction costs and we’re in talks with the investor to resolve the problem.”
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