Investigation into Shale Gas Licensing in Poland Expands

Another investigation into the process of issuing and overseeing shale gas licenses is under way in Poland.

Almost a year after the ABW (Agencja Bezpieczenstwa Wewnetrznego or Internal Security Agency) detained three officials of the Ministry of Environment, another investigation office; CBA (Centralne Biuro Antykorupcyjne or Central Anti-Corruption Bureau) has confirmed it is carrying out an examination at the ministry.

The investigation was initiated in November 2012, with the CBA undertaling a review of the process of licenses granting in the years 2007-2009 as well as controlling how the ministry is overseeing licenses holders activities.

Reportedly not reporting

According to the Polish radio RMF FM, investigators have already discovered that license holders aren’t handing over obligatory reports and that ministry isn’t forcing them to send all documents required by concessions.

Spokesman of the ministry, quoted by the RMF FM radio, denied that concessionaires were failing to send reports. However, he admitted that reports were not complete.

Commenting on the radio report, a CBA spokesperson confirmed only that investigators were checking the way how license holders are supervised by the ministry.

The ABW is a special government agency focused on combating and preventing corruption. It was established in 2006 and reports directly to the Prime Minister of Poland.

The spokesperson said that the current investigation was to end on 19 February, although it may be prolonged for another six months.

Double checking

Critics of the licensing system in Poland have repeatedly warned that it created an environment that might foster corruption.

In January 2012 the ABW (Internal Security Agency) detained seven persons, including three officials of the ministry. The prosecutor’s office in Warsaw stated that the arrests were made in connection with alleged corruption in shale gas licensing proceedings.

After several days, all seven detainees were released with the court setting bail of up to two hundred thousand zlotys for six of them.

Also in January 2012 , the new leadership of the ministry – Marcin Korolec as the minister and Piotr Wozniak as the Head Geologist - announced the period of first-come first-served rule in issuing concessions was over. Since then the licensing process has stalled.

During the period 2007-2011, the Ministry of Environment issued 110 licenses on the first-come, first-served basis. Licenses areas covered the most promising “shale gas belt”, reaching from Pomorze to Mazowsze, Podlasie, Lubelskie and further to the South East and Polish-Ukrainian border.

The new ministry leadership proposed new hydrocarbon regulations in the early 2012, however publication of the new guidelines continues to delayed.

Earlier this week minister Marcin Korolec suggested that the process is almost over and that the draft is one step from being ready to be published, most probably “ in the first half of the Q1 of 2013”.