The Polish Deputy Environment Minister announced that Lane Energy Poland, a company controlled by ConocoPhilips, has been extracting about 8,000 m3/d of gas (2.9 mcm/y) since end-July 2013. He said that although the yield was lower than at sites in Canada and the United States, it was the best such result in Europe to date. The amount is not big enough to qualify as commercial production, however. Gas is being extracted at a depth of 3,000 metres using fracking method.
Poland consumed 18.27 bcm of natural gas in 2012 (Global Energy & CO2 Data), the majority having been imported from Russia. The country, that has issued more than 100 shale gas exploration licences to local and international firms, which have drilled 48 wells to date, plans to invest €12.5bn in exploration and development of its shale gas sector by 2020. According to the Polish Geological Institute, Poland could have between 800 to 2,000 bcm of exploitable shale gas deposits.