UPDATE 1-Poland to receive its first U.S. LNG supplies in June

Reuters Staff

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(Adds details, background)

WARSAW, April 27 (Reuters) - Poland will receive its first liquefied natural gas supplies (LNG) from the United States in mid-June as a result of a deal Polish gas firm PGNiG signed with Cheniere Energy, state-run PGNiG said on Thursday.

Cheniere Energy will make the spot delivery at the Swinoujscie terminal on the Baltic Sea.

Poland, which consumes around 15-16 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas annually, built its first LNG terminal in Swinoujscie as part of a bigger plan to reduce reliance on gas it imports from Russia’s Gazprom.

The terminal, which started commercial operations in 2016, has a capacity of 5 bcm per year.

Since then it has been receiving LNG from Qatargas, which in March agreed to double deliveries to 2 million tonnes (3 bcm) per year. It also took one delivery on the spot market from Norway.

“This is a historical moment for PGNiG. We have won a new partner in the LNG trade,” PGNiG Chief Executive Officer Piotr Wozniak said in a statement.

The ambition of Poland’s conservative Law and Justice government is to replace the Russian deliveries with other supplies after 2022, when the long-term deal with Gazprom expires.

“This is a very important agreement, favourable in financial terms,” Prime Minister Beata Szydlo told public broadcaster TVP Info.

Poland also plans to build a gas pipeline to the Norwegian shelf via the Baltic Sea.

Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told daily Rzeczpospolita in an interview published on Thursday that the U.S. could also participate in this project.