LNG terminal launches on Monday

Minister of the Treasury Andrzej Czerwiński said on Sunday that a new LNG terminal in Świnoujście will be launched on Monday and the first cargo ship will arrive at the end of November or early December. "The gas which arrives now, will not be burnt ... It will be gradually pumped into the distribution system," Czerwiński was quoted as saying by the Polish Press Agency (PAP). "The actual, automatic gas distribution will begin in the second quarter of next year," he added. Świnoujście LNG terminal is a liquefied natural gas import terminal, which features an unloading jetty for large LNG tankers, two storage tanks and a regasification train. The terminal's initial regasification capacity will be 5 billion cubic meters per annum. The project is worth PLN 3.5 billion and is Poland's flagship investment aimed at diversifying gas supplies, reducing a dependence on Russia. "The investment is very important from the point of view of Poland's security. Our country will be 100 percent independent of one supplier from the East. Not because we will have so much liquefied gas, but because the investment is a part of  large-scale investments, including cross-border connections with Germany, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Ukraine, and the construction of a gas storage system," Czerwiński said. "Every citizen and every entrepreneur can now be sure that we will never experience gas shortages," the minister added.