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Poland’s PGNiG saw a strong rebound in revenue and net profit in the first quarter of this year, although it had to import more gas from European spot hubs across its western border with Germany.
The income of the state-run oil and gas producer rose 6% year-on-year to nearly 14.6 billion zloty ($ 3.9 billion), as net income jumped 124% to 1.7 billion zloty.
Operating expenses fell 4% to 11.2 billion zloty.
Imports of gas to meet domestic demand reached 4.1 billion cubic meters during the period under review, compared to 3.6 billion cubic meters in the fourth quarter of last year.
Despite this increase, PGNiG reported a reduction in dependence on gas supplies from Russian gas monopoly Gazprom.
Russian gas imports fell to around 2.3 billion cubic meters from 2.4 billion cubic meters in the fourth of 2020.
Imports of liquefied natural gas through its LNG regasification terminal at Swinoujscie on the Baltic Sea remained virtually unchanged during the period considered.
However, gas flows from Europe more than doubled from the average for the combined fourth and third quarters of last year to over 1 billion cubic meters between January and March.
With the start of the Baltic Sea pipeline laying work on the Baltic Pipe project earlier in May, Poland hopes to be able to eliminate its dependence on Russian gas deliveries by the end of next year.
The country’s position flies in the face of Moscow’s claims that Europe will need more Russian gas during the transition to cleaner fuels in the next 20-30 years as the Kremlin pushes its northern gas pipeline forward. Stream 2 to Germany under this pretext.
The Baltic Pipe project – which is a joint venture between gas transport operators, the Polish Gaz-System and the Danish Energinet – is expected to start operations in October next year and will be able to deliver up to 10 Gcm per year. of gas from offshore gas projects in the North Sea.
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