The liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal being built in Swinoujscie, north-western Poland, will start operations in late May or early June 2015 and testing is due to begin this autumn, according to deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Janusz Piechocinski on Monday.
"The process (of launching the terminal) will take a few months and it will be fully operational, at capacity, at the turn of May and June next year," Piechocinski told local press.
Quoting the opinions of U.S. experts stating that due to the European Union's upcoming sulphur directive there could be 500-600 LNG-powered ships on the Baltic Sea in five years, Piechocinski said that "this is an opportunity for us."
"The Polsteam (PZM) shipping company is considering the construction of two ferries running on this fuel in a pilot programme," the economy minister added.
"The terminal, which has much greater capacity than needed to handle Poland's (LNG deal) with Qatar, could be a foundation of energy security on the Baltic Sea. Apart from ship's operators' vessels, we are talking about cooperation with Latvia,Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Germany," Piechocinski said.
Construction of the Swinoujscie LNG terminal continues. Its capacity will enable Poland to handle 5 billion cubic metres of LNG per year, with the option to increase this capacity to 7.5 billion cubic metres.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/poland-open-new-liquefied-natural-gas-terminal-2015-economy-minister