Polskie LNG, a subsidiary of Poland’s state gas transmission operator Gaz-System, has received a building permit for a third storage tank at its President Lech Kaczyński LNG terminal in Świnoujście in northwest Poland.
The new tank will have a capacity of 180,000 m3, 20,000 m3 larger than the two existing tanks, and will take total storage capacity at the site to 500,000 m3. The tank forms part of stage two of expansion work at the site, which also includes the construction of a second berth for ships, for loading, unloading and reloading LNG and ship bunkering. It is due for completion in December 2023. Stage one of the expansion work, the installation of two additional regasifiers, is already underway.
Polskie LNG says that the new tank and berth will increase the flexibility at Świnoujście and allow it to launch new services.
‘The permit we received means that we can immediately start building a new tank. The second stage of the terminal expansion is carried out in the ‘design and build’ formula, so the contractor, before obtaining administrative approvals, conducted design works, selected subcontractors and prepared to start construction works,’ says Tomasz Stępień, president of Gaz-System.
Zbigniew Bogucki, the governor (voivode) of West Pomerania, the region in which the terminal is located, granted the building permit.
‘The LNG terminal expansion programme is primarily about improving Poland’s energy security and increasing the diversification of natural gas supplies to our country. The expansion of the terminal may make Poland the leader of the LNG market in the Baltic Sea basin. This investment will also translate into benefits for individual gas consumers in the context of continuity of supplies and favourable gas prices,’ he says.
