Poland Wants Full Steam Ahead with Natural Gas

Poland needs to accelerate works on shale gas exploration if it wants to achieve 10 billion cubic meters of total gas production in 2020, Treasury Minister Mikolaj Budzanowski said on Tuesday.

"If we want to see ourselves in 2020 as provider of 10 billion cubic meters of gas, we need to accelerate works on exploration drillings several times," Budzanowski said, adding that between ten and twenty drillings a year were "much too few."

Increasing domestic production to 10 bcm would allow Poland to become independent of supplies from the east, the official added.

Poland has granted 111 shale gas exploration licenses since 2007. License holders are supposed to carry out 308 boreholes on 110 licenses by 2021, including 122 mandatory boreholes and 186 optional ones, the Environment Ministry said in July 2012.

By the end of 2012 exploration licenses' holders are expected to launch 41 new drillings.