In 2018 PGNiG concluded an agreement for the supply of liquefied gas from the United States. The company's management emphasized then that the terms of the contract were “very attractive”. Meanwhile, the US Energy Information Administration published data for 2022which shows that importing this raw material from overseas may not be for Polish so profitable.
LNG gas from the USA. Poland paid more than others
According to WysokieNapiecie.pl, it's all because of… gas prices from the terminal – Calcasieu Pass. The LNG that flows to Świnoujście from this place cost the Polish side $35.77 per thousand cubic feet.
Other customers paid much less for the same amount of LNG at that time. The website says it cost a thousand cubic feet Italians $14.1 and the Chinese $15.63. The French, British and Dutch also provided better conditions than the Poles.
Interestingly, from other American terminals, the raw material sent to Świnoujście was much cheaper. One thousand cubic feet of gas from the Cameron Terminal in Louisiana was paid for 11,57 dol., Corpus Christi, Texas – 11,53 dol., and Freeport, Texas – 8,76 dol.
“The most unfavorable, however, turned out to be supplies from Calcasieu Pass, where as much as 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas came from,” Money.pl reported.
According to WysokieNapiecie.pl, differences in the price of gas from the Calcasieu Pass terminal are most likely the result of the use of Venture Global LNG by the company. gaps in the contract concluded with PGNiG.
“The company claimed that the terminal was located in technological start-up phase. And this – in accordance with the provisions of the contract – released it from the execution of long-term contracts at agreed prices,” we read.
As a result, the terminal sold gas to Poland at rates resulting from current market conditions, such as: energy crisis caused by Russian aggression on Ukraine.
The calculations show that the losses incurred by the Polish side in 2022 are: approximately USD 900 million i.e. over PLN 3.6 billion (at the current exchange rate – editor).
Dawid Czopek, manager of Polaris FIZ and a fuel market expert, in an interview with money.pl, believes that the contract may have been unfavorable due to the provision regarding “supplying gas to Poland after putting its gas terminals into operation (by the Americans – ed.).“.
– The key word in this case is “dedication”. Although the terminals are operational and operate without any problems, formally speaking, they do not have all the required permits. Therefore, they are not formally put into use. PGNiG's contractor could have used this to force Poland to pay higher prices – added the expert.