Polish Briefing: Poland still has no energy strategy

What goes on in Poland on the 24th of January.

The EU wants renewables’ revolution fired by gas. Poland still has no energy strategy

The European Commission would like to support the development of renewables by gas energy. In Poland, the long announced energy strategy has not yet been approved.

In an interview for Florence School of Regulation, Klaus-Dieter Borchardt (head of Directorate General for Energy in the European Commission) convinces that in the future, Europe’s energy mix cannot fully rely on renewable energy sources and needs to be balanced by gas.

– I do not understand the people who say that gas can only be a transition fuel for renewable energy. In present conditions, RES part can reach about 50 per cent. How should we fill the rest? In my opinion, it is a role of gas – rates the European councilman.

In Polish government, a discussion about an energy mix that would be the most appropriate for the state’s interest is going on. According to declarations of the ministry of energy, new nuclear power plant is going to be built in order to balance coal. Development of offshore wind farms and gas energy are also considered. A final document was planned for late 2016, later for 2017. According to recent declarations of representatives of the government, it would be presented no sooner than at the end of February.

Lotos secures two new licences in Norway

On January 16th 2018, Lotos Exploration and Production Norge AS (“LOTOS Norge”) was offered two new exploration and production licences by the Norwegian authorities in the APA 2017 round.

As the final stage of the licensing process at Lotos Norge, the licences have to be accepted by the company’s governing bodies.

Once the new licences are accepted, the portfolio of the Norwegian subsidiary will expand to 28 licences.

The new licences have proven hydrocarbon reserves and are located in close proximity to the company’s existing exploration and production operations. These areas still contain oil and gas reserves which can be produced with technical infrastructure that is already in place or is currently under construction.

To note, the deadline for submitting licence applications by companies planning to develop operations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf expired on September 1st 2017. From that date until the announcement of the APA results, the Norwegian authorities were analysing the submitted applications and, based on the results of that analysis, offered 75 new licenses to 34 out of 39 applicants on January 16th 2018.