Poland Signs Long-Term Import Deal for Louisiana LNG

WARSAW, Poland — Poland's main gas company says it has signed a long-term contract for the purchase of some 40 million tons of liquefied natural gas from a U.S.-based producer in the first such deal in Central and Eastern Europe.

Piotr Wozniak, the president of Poland's PGNiG, said Wednesday the deal would help cut the country's dependence on Russian gas imports.

Calcasieu Pass planned pipelines (source: VentureGlobal)

Under the 20-year deal signed late Tuesday, Poland will import 2 million tons of liquefied natural gas annually from Louisiana-based Venture Global Calcasieu Pass and from Venture Global Plaquemines LNG.

Wozniak said the price was some 20 percent lower than the costly contract with Russia's Gazprom, which ends in 2022.

The gas will be delivered to the Swinoujscie terminal, which has been adapted to take the fuel, which is transported by ship.

Arlington, Virginia-based Venture Global LNG has raised more than $600 million of capital to develop both of the Louisiana LNG export facilities that would supply Poland under the agreement—the 10-MTPA Calcasieu Pass and 20-MTPA Venture Global Plaquemines facilities.

Regulatory approval and final investment decisions (FID) for both of the LNG projects and related infrastructure are still pending. 

Plaquemines planned pipelines (source: VentureGlobal)

The 930-acre Calcasieu Pass project site is located where the Calcasieu Ship Channel meets the Gulf of Mexico.  It would be supplied through connections with Tennessee Gas (TGP) and Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO) pipelines via the proposed TransCameron Pipeline, a 24-mile, 42-inch pipeline extending from the proposed LNG terminal to near Grand Chenier, Louisiana. 

The 630-acre Plaquemines project site is located on the Mississippi River, about 20 miles south of the Port of New Orleans.  It also would be supplied through TETCO connection via the proposed Gator Express pipeline project, to be developed in phases, starting with a 15-mile, 42-inch pipe, followed by construction of a 12-mile looped section of 42-inch pipeline.

Venture Global is targeting FID and construction start for the Calcasieu Pass project and TransCameron Pipeline early next year. It is targeting late 2019 for a Plaquemines FID.

- AP and P&GJ staff report

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