2018-11-08 18:56 update: 2018-11-10, 18:16
Photo PAP/Paweł Supernak
Diversification of energy sources is important for Poland and for Europe, Polish President Andrzej Duda and US Energy secretary Rick Perry said in Warsaw on Thursday after a landmark contract was signed between Polish and US gas firms.
On Thursday, Poland's gas company PGNiG signed a 24-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) delivery contract with the US firm Cheniere Marketing International. The deliveries will start in 2019.
"I'm very pleased that this contract (...) has been signed with a company from the United States. Poland wants to and does cooperate very closely with the United States in the area of security," President Duda said.
The Polish president stressed the importance of the US military presence in Poland. "I'm pleased that cooperation is also developing in the area of energy security," he added.
"I believe that the cooperation between the companies (PGNiG and Cheniere - PAP) will work out very well," Duda said, underscoring his hope that the contract "will be an introduction to further action that will be carried out in this respect."
Recalling his conversation held last year with visiting US President Donald Trump, Andrzej Duda said that Poland was willing to purchase US gas at sensible, market prices, stressing also the importance of quality and security of supplies.
The president also expressed hope that the Polish government will soon be able to double the capacity of Poland's LNG terminal in Świnoujście and observed that PGNiG had secured access to gas deposits in the Norwegian Shelf, from where the gas could be pumped to Poland through the Baltic Pipe, a new seabed pipeline project.
Duda stressed such activities will increase the security of Poland, but also of Central Europe.
The US secretary of energy said that the US is proud to be Poland’s partner.
Rick Perry added that decisions made in Poland in the field of energy security will be extremely important.
He also stated that the importance of Poland for the European Union, for relations between the United States and this region of the world, took center stage when the president asked Georgette Mosbacher to be the ambassador in Poland.
Perry stressed that the diversification of energy sources increased the strength of the Polish economy and said the PGNiG-Cheniere partnership was an example for Europe of how to diversify energy sources and improve energy security.
US Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher congratulated President Duda on Twitter on "the important step towards the diversification of energy sources."
Polish Energy Minister Krzysztof Tchórzewski stressed that the contract was in line with Poland's direction of supply diversification. "Cooperation with the US is a significant pillar of freedom and security for us," he stressed.
PGNiG is planning to sign two new contracts for the delivery of US LNG, according to the company's CEO Piotr Woźniak.
"We're planning two more LNG delivery contracts. We want to build a complete supply portfolio," Woźniak said at a press conference.
"We're signing various LNG contracts with US companies and they all share one feature - they are 20 to 30 percent cheaper than the gas we are currently buying from Russia," he added.
The most recent contract is for the years 2019-2042. The supplies will be delivered to Poland's new LNG terminal in Świnoujście, located in the north-eastern part of the country. (PAP)
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