Poland Plans Major Boost to Gas Production Over Five Years

The Polish Government has declared an ambitious plan to boost gas production in the coming five years.

"Extraction of natural gas in Poland should grow by 10 bln mcm in five years," Treasury Minister Mikolaj Budzanowski said at the "Second Shale Science Conference" in Warsaw.

Last year the domestic gas extraction in Poland reached 4.2 bln mcm or roughly one third of the yearly demand. The country is deeply dependent on imports from Russia.

"Fundamental questions after two years of shale gas exploration in Poland are: 'Where are you heading to?', 'What do you want to achieve?'" commented Mikolaj Budzanowski.  "The answer is in bills paid by us, the Europeans. In 2011 alone the Europeans spent 120 bln dollars on 320 bln mcm of gas imported from outside the EU,"  explained the minister.

"'Can we afford it?'  he asked rhetorically.  "The answer is obvious: we can't, but we can afford to invest large sums in exploration of unconventional resources."

Minister Budzanowski re-iterated that shale gas production should start in Poland as early as 2015.

The Treasury Minister, known for his support for the shale gas development in Poland, announced that the National Centre for Research and Development would act as a platform of a dialogue between scientists and explorers, in order to create an effective indigenous technology needed to extract hydrocarbons from unconventional sources.

Earlier Budzanowski indicated that Poland should increase domestic extraction of gas in order to strenghten its position prior to renegotiating the terms of contract with Russia in 2019.