Polish state-owned gas company Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo (PGNiG ) has opened a new cavern underground gas storage facility in Kosakowo, northern Poland. The site will improve gas transmission in the Pomerania region by ensuring the continuity of supplies and facilitating the connection of new users to the gas supply network.
The new facility is expected to be ready in the second quarter of 2014. The aggregate working capacity of the underground section, which currently consists of two caverns, has been increased, from the originally planned 51.2 mcm to 61.2 mcm. The gas injection capacity is 100,000 m3/h, while the withdrawal capacity is 400,000 m3/h.
Further work on the site will involve completion of the EU co-funded project in 2015, comprising development of four caverns, to achieve a minimum working gas capacity of 100 mcm. This will be followed by completion by 2021 of clusters A and B comprising 10 caverns, to achieve a minimum working gas capacity of 250 mcm, and then by development of clusters C and D - currently in the design phase. PGNiG estimates that, once clusters C and D are completed, the working gas capacity of the Kosakowo gas storage facility will have reached 600 mcm.