New LNG pipelines ready for ORLEN

On 12 March, two new LNG gas companies for the ORLEN Group were baptized at the Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries shipyard in Mokpo. Units received names Danuta Sit-Inka and Rotmaster Witold Pilecki.

After the final formalities and Ship preparation will start operating in a global liquefied natural gas transport system. From the point of view of national energy security, this event is much wider than the symbolic baptism of new individuals. In practice, it means further expansion of the Polish logistics base in the LNG trade, which has become one of the pillars of diversification of gas supply in recent years.

Each new gas tanker can deliver to Poland a single amount of raw material, which, after regasification, corresponds to the demand of up to two million households.

ORLEN continuously invests in the security and energy independence of Poland and the whole region. We develop both our own mining, conducting a search in the country and in the Norwegian Shelf, as well as increasing commercial opportunities. The expansion of the LNG fleet allows us to flexibly manage gas supply and ensure stability of supply to customers.

Mr Ireneusz Fąfara, President of the Management Board of ORLEN

Modern gas turbines for the global LNG market

New units are among the most modern LNG gas turbines currently operating in the world. Each vessel has 174,000 m3 liquefied natural gas tanks and can transport approximately 70 000 tonnes of LNG at once.

After the regasification process, this corresponds to about 100 million m3 of natural gas. Interestingly, this amount of raw material covers the average weekly demand of all households in Poland.

The godmothers of the new units were Renata Rosiak, executive director at ORLEN, and pianist Zuzanna Sejbuk. The very act of baptism, according to the sea tradition, symbolically opens the ship's path to service in world shipping.

The key element in the construction of these gas turbines is their operational versatility. The design of units allows you to wrap to most LNG terminals in the world. In practice, this also means great freedom to plan transport routes and to respond to changing gas market conditions.

The units were chartered for a period of ten years with the possibility of its renewal.

Transport potential of new units

Although the number of new ships may seem small, their transport capacity is significant. Each gas tanker of this size can supply nearly 1 TWh of energy after regasification.

From the perspective of the national gas system, this means about 0.5–0.6 percent of Poland's annual demand for natural gas.

The ship could therefore operate on routes between LNG terminals in United States and Europe, carrying out eight to nine such connections per year. In practice, this gives a transport potential of 8-9 TWh of gas per year.

LNG loss reduction technology on new gas turbines

Modern transport of liquefied natural gas requires not only a large capacity of tanks, but also a reduction in losses resulting from natural evaporation of LNG during the voyage.

This is why the new gas tankers are equipped with a re-sparkling system that allows to recover part of the re-storage fuel. This solution increases ship efficiency and reduces the loss of transported raw material.

An integrated energy management system was also used on board. Ships can operate on both natural gas and diesel. The difference is that such a system provides greater flexibility of operation and allows to meet current and future environmental standards in maritime navigation.

ORLEN expands the gas fleet

After the introduction of the new LNG gas fleet, the Polish power company will have eight ships. In practice, this means a significant increase in the transport capacity of the company in global LNG trade.

Although part of the supply is still carried out using chartered units, its own fleet allows greater control over transport logistics and greater flexibility in cargo management.

From an economic perspective, the development of the LNG fleet is part of the company's wider energy strategy. Natural gas is expected to serve as a transitional fuel in the energy transition process. According to forecasts, its consumption in Poland in the next decade may increase to up to 27 billion m3 per year.

Record year for LNG supplies

The growing importance of LNG in the Polish energy system can also be seen in supply statistics. Last year, the Świnoujście LNG terminal recorded a record number of unloadings.

The ORLEN Group received 81 liquefied natural gas loads there – 20 more than a year earlier. The total volume of LNG imported by sea was almost 6 million tonnes, an increase of about 30% compared to the previous year.

Interestingly, ORLEN is also increasingly involved in global LNG trade. The company has already delivered to Japan, China, Thailand, Egypt and terminals in Western Europe.

Development of gas reception infrastructure

The expansion of the gas fleet goes hand in hand with investments in gas collection infrastructure. Importantly, at the beginning of this year the next stage of the development of the LNG terminal in Świnoujście was completed – the third storage tank for liquefied natural gas was launched. In practice, this means increasing the storage capacity of installations and more flexibility in accepting further LNG supplies by sea.

Although the terminal's handling infrastructure has been operating for several years, its expansion has systematically increased the import capacity of Poland. The Świnoujście Terminal remains one of the key elements of the national system today energy security.

One element of the regional strategy of diversification of supply is also the use of the FSRU terminal in Klaipeda, where the gas after regasification goes to Poland via the Polish-Lithuania pipeline. Part of the raw material is also directed to the markets of the Baltic States.

Infrastructure in Poland is also developed. ORLEN has reserved the full regasification power of the planned floating LNG terminal in the Gulf of Gdańsk, which is expected to reach 6.1 billion m3 of gas per year.

After the installation is started, the number of LNG supplies received by the Group may increase by up to 58 loads per year. In practice, this means another step towards building a stable gas supply system for Poland and the whole region of Central and Eastern Europe.