Gas diversification
A second source for natural gas must be found in the next four years, according to the Economy Minister, Piotr Wozniak. Last week he also told a Sejm Economy Commission that a Deputy Minister responsible for the country's energy security would be appointed in the coming days.
According to officials in the Ministry of Economy and Labor, Poland is going to reduce its dependence on Russian natural resources by either buying more from its other neighbors, or building a terminal near Gdańsk in order to refine natural gas into its liquefied form, which can provide energy much more efficiently. This plan was originally developed in the 1990s but was shelved when a leftist government came to power.
Natural gas, which now makes up approximately 12 percent of Poland's energy use, will make up a 20-percent stake in less than 20 years. Warsaw sees dependence on natural resources from Moscow as a threat to its energy security, which was demonstrated in January 2004 when Moscow shut off gas supplies to Poland.
"I will not try to delude anyone so I will just say this openly - we are also aiming to make ourselves safe," said Piotr Kamieński, the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Economy and Labor's Energy Security department. "The percentage that Russian gas makes up in our energy supply will relatively diminish as we increase the amount of resources imported from other countries, such as Norway, Germany or Ukraine. We are also thinking about the Caspian Sea, which is very rich in natural gas."
Poland extracts 4.3 million cubic meters of gas on its own and imports another nine million. By 2010 the amount of gas that Poland refines is going to rise to 5.5 million cubic meters. Currently Poland's pipes are capable of carrying one million cubic meters of gas a year. According to Kamieński, this number is going to "rise reasonably in the near future." The Ministry says "negotiations have been on-going" and the first results will be seen at the beginning of 2006 so as to have the process of diversification completed by the end of 2007. (Reuters)
