Poland will begin commercial production of natural gas from shale rock deposits in late 2014 or early 2015, Treasury Minister Mikolaj Budzanowski said Friday, days after a local institute said Poland had less shale gas than previously thought.

"We have to set ambitious goals. My goal is one shale gas field with 12 wells, starting production at the turn of 2014," Budzanowski told an industry conference.

Poland 's national geological institute earlier this week said it estimated the country's recoverable reserves of shale gas at between 346 billion cubic meters and 768 billion cubic meters, much lower than earlier estimates by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which said the reserves could reach 5.3 trillion cubic meters.

Budzanowski said in comments to the report that it had been based on archival samples extracted between 1950 and 1990, and that Poland 's shale gas sector needed to drill more test wells in order to determine with more precision the country's actual shale gas and oil reserves.

Polish state-controlled gas firm PGNiG SA (PGN.WA), as well as number of U.S. companies, are drilling exploration wells in Poland .

The minister said Friday that a number of sectors of the Polish economy, like transportation, oil services, chemical and petrochemical, will benefit from commercial production of shale gas. Local populations, often concerned about environmental aspects of drilling for shale gas, also need to benefit from the industry's rise, Budzanowski said.

Piotr Wozniak , Poland 's chief geologist, told Dow Jones Newswires Friday the government wants to change the way exploration fees charged from companies are distributed between the central and local governments.

"We want local government to have a stake," he said, adding that the jobs the shale gas industry will create will be among the benefits for local governments.

The Treasury Minister said he's convinced, despite this week's lower reserves estimates, that Poland will produce meaningful amounts of gas, which should help lower prices. He said the price of 1,000 cubic meters of gas in the U.S. is about $81 due to the abundance of shale gas, while the price in Europe is in the range of $350-$400.

Poland hopes the rise of the shale gas industry will provide a viable alternative to gas from Russia 's OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS), pushing down prices. Because of Poland 's dependence on Gazprom for about two-thirds of the gas it consumes and still limited ability to import gas from other directions, Poland pays what it describes as excessive prices for Russian gas.

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