Exploration work carried out by the Polish PKN Orlen confirmed an additional 500 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas in the Jastrzębiec deposit near the town of Biłgoraj in the south-east of Poland, the company announced on Tuesday (14 February).
The recoverable resources of the deposit have increased to 700 million cubic meters. According to the company’s specialists, they may be even higher, which is to be confirmed by further works carried out on the deposit.
“Domestic natural gas resources, in addition to supplies via the Baltic Pipe and the LNG Terminal President Lech Kaczyński in Świnoujście, are an important element of Poland’s energy security system. Further discoveries of sources of the raw material from domestic deposits will allow the ORLEN Group to maintain its own gas production in the coming years at a level close to 20 per cent of the annual demand for this fuel in our country,” said Daniel Obajtek, President of the Management Board of PKN ORLEN.
“Each cubic meter of natural gas from our own extraction is not only an additional guarantee of safety but also additional financial inflow for local governments where we extract raw materials. Therefore, ORLEN will continue to invest in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons,” he added.
Discovery and exploitation of gas from subsequent deposits have a positive impact not only on securing gas supplies but also on the financial condition of local governments where oil and gas resources are located, Orlen said.
Companies engaged in the extraction of hydrocarbons are required to pay an “exploitation fee” depending on the volume of production. The fee is divided between the local and national authorities of the region where the deposit is located; communes (60 per cent), poviats, voivodeships (15 per cent, respectively) and additionally the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (10 per cent). In 2022, the exploration company PGNiG, now part of the Orlen Group, transferred approximately 140.5 million złoty (29.5 million euros) to local government budgets for the mining fee.
An additional source of income for municipalities related to the mining activities of ORLEN Group’s PGNiG is the tax on real estate intended for the infrastructure related to the exploitation of hydrocarbons. In 2022, the Company paid 72.8 million złoty (15.29 million euros) for this.
