Poland’s state-owned oil and gas company PGNiG announced it will end its 9 bcm gas supply contract with Gazprom. According to Yamal contract’s term, which was concluded in 1996, the parties are required to submit a declaration three years before its termination date whether they intend to continue the deal.
PGNiG has been diversifying its gas supply in recent years, most notably with the signature of long-term supply agreements with US LNG producers. For the first 9 months of 2019, PGNiG LNG imports grew by 27% compared with the same period in 2019.
In 2018, LNG imports (most of which from Qatar, Norway and the United States) rose by 58% in 2018 (+1 bcm, from 1.7 bcm in 2017 to 2.7 bcm in 2018), accounting for 20% of total gas imports. Meanwhile, Russian gas imports declined by 6.4%, from around 9.7 bcm in 2017 to roughly 9 bcm in 2018. Consequently, the share of gas imports from Russia in the total Polish import volumes dropped to less than 67% in 2018 from 89% in 2017.