EU duo seals LNG deal as Central and Eastern European countries resolutely reinforce energy diversification ties

Slovakia’s ZSE Group has signed a gas sales agreement with PGNiG Supply&Trading, part of Poland’s Orlen Group, to secure the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) originating mainly from the United States (U.S.) in a bid to diversify supplies and shore up the security of gas deliveries for its customers.

Under the terms of the agreement, LNG originating from the United States is set to arrive at Lithuania’s Klaipeda LNG terminal, after which it will be sent to the Polish gas system via the Poland-Lithuania gas pipeline so that it can be delivered to Slovakia via the Vyrava interconnector.

The contract provides for gas delivery from January through 2025 in what is described as the first time that a Slovak company will import natural gas from the north. The Polish player sees this as an example of growing cooperation between companies from Central and Eastern Europe on energy matters, as they work on diversifying supplies and strengthening gas security in the region.

“Our contract represents a significant diversification of natural gas supplies in a volume of almost 30% of our customers’ current consumption,” noted Juraj Bayer, Chairman of the Board and Commercial Director of both companies.

“We will use the northern gas pipeline connection, which further increases energy security and independence from Russian gas and Ukrainian transit. It currently represents a key strategic measure to ensure sufficient natural gas for all customers of the ZSE and VSE brands.”

The Polish player recently received approval from the Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) for its subsidiary PGNiG Upstream Norway (PUN) to start exploration drilling in production license 1055, which it operates in partnership with Norske Shell. Earlier this year, the firm joined hands with Horisont Energi to be a license partner in the Polaris CO2 project, thus, becoming the operator of the only CO2 storage located in the Barents Sea.