Poland Funds First LNG Terminal

Poland LNG has arranged €950m ($1.3bn) to build the country’s first LNG import terminal.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will provide €200m ($273m) along with ten other banks led by Bank Pekao and PKO Bank Polski, which may each buy €75m ($102m) of Polskie LNG bonds.

The terminal, to be located at Swinoujscie, is expected to be capable of initially importing 5 billion cubic metres of LNG a year.

Poland currently consumes 13 billion to 14 billion cubic metres of gas a year and imports about two-thirds of its gas from Russia.

Polskie chief executive officer Zbigniew Rapciak was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that the terminal is due to be complete by mid-2014 and will expand to 7.5 billion cubic metres a year in 2017 or 2018.