The first commercial cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) will arrive at Poland’s new terminal in Swinoujscie in July, Polish trade press reported on February 25, citing the CEO of operator Polskie LNG.

The cargo is set to arrive on July 16, following test loads received in December and February, Jan Chadam said, according to industry and defence website Defence24.pl. Following the collapse of a drive to exploit the country's shale gas reserves, Poland sees the LNG terminal as the major plank in efforts to reduce reliance on Russian gas supplies. However, the facility has faced long delays.

Poland uses about 16bn cm of gas per year. Overall, 4.4bn was sourced from domestic production in 2014; about 75% of imports came from Russia. 

Poland has a contract with Qatargas for delivery of 1.5bn cubic meters of gas per year over 20 years. The delays saw Poland forced to ask Qatar last year to sell the gas on the spot market while it tried to launch the platform.

The terminal’s capacity is 5bn cm, and could be expanded to 7.5bn cm. Despite that disparity, and the fact that commercial operations have still not kicked off,  the CEO of grid operator Gaz-System claims that a decision on expansion of the terminal will likely be taken this year.

Meanwhile, efforts to increase alternative supplies to Russian imports are growing. State-controlled gas utility PGNiG claimed on February 24 it is in talks on building a gas corridor link to Norwegian offshore fields via Denmark to Poland.