Polish Briefing: Government adopts resolution on financing NPP I Russian and Belarusian trucks can’t enter Poland I PGNiG bags more shares in Norwegian shelf

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Flags of the USA and Poland. Source: freepik
Flags of the USA and Poland. Source: freepik

The government adopted a resolution on the financing of Poland’s first NPP with the support of the United States and added more money while at it

The government has taken up a resolution on the financing of the first nuclear power plant in Pomerania with support from the United States through EXIMBANK. It also gave more money to the Polish Nuclear Power Plants (PEJ).

The government’s agenda scheduled for May 30 includes „a draft resolution of the Council of Ministers on ensuring financing for the construction of a nuclear power plant with an electrical capacity of up to 3,750 MWe in the area of the municipalities of Choczewo or Gniewino and Krokowa”.

This resolution defines the framework for financing the nuclear power plant in Pomerania, which is to be built jointly by PEJ, Bechtel and Westinghouse. The resolution refers to the offer made by America’s EXIMBANK, which wants to co-bankroll the Polish project, as reported by BiznesAlert.pl previously.

„The government is taking measures to ensure the construction of the nuclear power plant in the area of the municipalities of Choczewo or Gniewino and Krokowa. In particular, the measures concern: the development of draft regulations, on the basis of which it will be possible to grant guarantees or assurances on behalf of the State Treasury, ensuring debt financing that is necessary to cover the costs of implementing the investment; increasing the equity capital of PEJ. The Council of Ministers will oblige the competent authorities and entities to take measures that will serve to provide financing for the implementation of investments and increase the equity capital of Polskie Elektrowne Jądrowe, ” the government said in a statement.

PEJ are to finance the construction of the atom in Poland until the financial model is created. The financing model and the distribution of the shares of US companies in PEJ’s shareholding are being negotiated before the signing of the project agreement, scheduled for the third quarter of 2023.Poland wants to have the first AP1000 reactor in 2033 and 6-9 GW in atomic capacity in 2043. The first power plant in this technology is to be built in Pomerania.

Wojciech Jakóbik

From June 1, Poland will close the border for Belarusian and Russian trucks

From midnight on June 1 (Thursday) until further notice, goods traffic at the border crossing points with the Republic of Belarus will be suspended for trucks, truck tractors, trailers, including semi-trailers, and assemblies of vehicles registered on the territory of the Republic of Belarus or the Russian Federation.

It should be mentioned that the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs decided to put on the sanctions list 365 representatives of the Belarusian regime, as well as 20 entities and 16 entrepreneurs associated mainly with Russian capital. Minister Kamiński announced his decision on Friday, when the Belarusian Supreme Court upheld the sentencing of Polish minority activist Andrzej Poczobut to eight years at a maximum-security penal colony.

Kamiński had instructed the security services to prepare proposals for imposing sanctions on representatives of the Belarusian regime in February, a day after Poczobut’s conviction by the court of first instance. Two days after the verdict, Poland suspended traffic at the Polish-Belarusian road border crossing in Bobrowniki until further notice. The Interior Minister stressed that as long as Poczobut was in prison, the passage would remain closed.

After the closure of the crossing in Bobrowniki, on February 18, the Belarusian regime introduced restrictions banning Polish carriers from using border crossings on the border of Belarus with Lithuania and Latvia. Their vehicles are checked only at the Kukuryki-Kozłowicze border crossing with the Koroszczyn terminal, the only currently open Polish-Belarusian road freight crossing.

In response, Poland restricted the movement on the border crossing in Kukuryki. Freight traffic there is only open to vehicles registered in the  European Union, in Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. However, trailers registered in other countries, including Belarus, towed by vehicles registered in Poland were transported through the crossing. The resolution published on Monday will make this impossible.

Polish Press Agency / Jacek Perzyński Further use of the site indicates

PGNiG adds new fields to fill up the Baltic Pipe

PGNiG Upstream Norway, which is part of the Orlen Group, has acquired stakes in two more deposits in Norway, which will help to make up for the natural decline in production from the deposits currently in operation, so as to ensure there is enough gas in the Baltic Pipe.

It bought about 10 percent of the shares of the PL211CS concession on the Adriana and Sabina deposits.

„The concession is located in the Norwegian Sea, about 20 km southwest of the Skarv mining area, which is the main hub of the Orlen Group’s activities on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The new deposits will be connected to the existing mining infrastructure in the area through the Ærfugl deposit operated by PGNiG Upstream Norway, located near Skarv. This will ensure higher profitability of production from newly acquired deposits, reduce the time and costs of work related to their development, and in addition will reduce carbon emissions associated with this process,” Orlen explained. „Adriana is a gas-condensate field while Sabina has oil and gas. The deposits were discovered in the first quarter of 2021, and their total recoverable resources – according to preliminary estimates – range from 38 to 88 million barrels of oil equivalent. It will be possible to confirm these figure after the exploratory drilling, which is planned for the fourth quarter of 2023. Production at the Adriana deposit is expected to start in 2029 and at the Sabina deposit in 2033. Thanks to this, PGNiG Upstream Norway will be able to compensate for the natural decline in production from currently exploited deposits,” the company stated.

PGNiG Upstream Norway is still waiting for approval from the Norwegian Oil Ministry. Once obtained, the company will become a shareholder with Wintershall DEA (40 percent of shares, operator), Petoro (35 percent) and Aker BP (15 percent),” the company said. „The natural gas that Orlen group obtains from deposits in Norway is transmitted to Poland via the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline, which was launched in the fourth quarter of 2022. By systematically increasing production on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, the Orlen Group contributes significantly to the growth of our country’s energy security, ” the company wrote in a statement.

PKN Orlen / Wojciech Jakóbik