By Marek Strzelecki

(Bloomberg) — Thirteen days earlier than Poland’s common election, Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz opened the nation’s first terminal to import liquefied pure fuel and promised “full independence” from Russian fuel provides from subsequent 12 months.

The facility is prepared for startup checks and can get a primary cargo of LNG from Qatar between Dec. 11 and Dec. 17 to chill the plant, with business deliveries beginning in 2016, two years later than initially deliberate. Poland, a key transit nation for Russian fuel provides to western Europe, has criticized plans by Gazprom PJSC to broaden its undersea pipeline on to Germany, which bypasses east European nations that depend on Russia for his or her vitality.

“Next year, we’ll be fully independent from supplies from the east,” Kopacz instructed reporters on the terminal’s website within the Baltic port of Swinoujscie, close to the German border.

Poland plans to broaden its fuel grid to allow the transport of gasoline from Swinoujscie to its neighbors within the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine and Lithuania. That would additionally permit it to spice up the usage of the terminal, which at present solely has provide agreements for 30 p.c of its capability.

The Law & Justice opposition occasion, which leads opinion polls forward of the Oct. 25 election, stated the terminal wasn’t prepared and that Kopacz was staging a “show” to woo voters.

Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA, the nation’s Poland’s dominant fuel firm, nonetheless has to purchase a minimal of about 8.5 billion cubic meters of fuel per 12 months (300 billion cubic ft) from Gazprom below a long-term contract signed in 1996. The accord will stay in pressure till 2022.

Cross Border

“The prime minister is cutting a ribbon and the terminal’s construction will continue, the terminal isn’t open,” stated Beata Szydlo, the opposition’s candidate for prime minister.

The facility, which might import 5 billion cubic meters of fuel a 12 months, will create a further provide route for Poland, which bought about 4 billion cubic meters by way of pipelines from Russia within the first six months of this 12 months. The nation may also entry extra fuel by reversing flows in present hyperlinks carrying Gazprom’s provides to the west.

“A real chance to fully utilize the terminal will emerge from 2018, when new investments and cross-border links are completed,” Jan Chadam, chief government officer of Swinoujscie terminal operator Polskie LNG SA, stated final week in an interview.

–With help from Maciej Martewicz in Warsaw.

©2015 Bloomberg News

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