<article><p class="lead">Polish state-controlled PGNiG has bought ownership stakes in two producing Norwegian fields and associated infrastructure from Shell, subject to approval, significantly lifting its expected Norwegian output.</p><p>If the purchases are approved by Norwegian authorities, PGNiG will own 6.45pc of the Kvitebjorn field and 3.225pc of the Valemon field, and shares in infrastructure used to transport offtake from the fields. The firm does not plan to disclose the purchase price.</p><p>These purchases would significantly increase the firm's future gas production in Norway, which it has said it plans to deliver to Poland following the commissioning of the planned 10bn m³/yr Baltic Pipe. Offtake at each field is mostly natural gas, PGNiG said. </p><p>The transactions would lift PGNiG's Norwegian gas production to 900mn m³ in 2021, 45pc higher than in 2019 and almost 30pc higher than previously forecast, the firm said. The portion of 2020 production it would receive from the two fields would be equivalent to about 70pc of its current Norwegian production, it said. The two fields should generate 200mn m³/yr of gas and 50mn m³ this year for the firm, it said.</p><p>PGNiG plans to import gas from its Norwegian assets — it owns existing stakes in seven fields — following the <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1894008">planned October 2022 completion</a> of the 10bn m³/yr Baltic Pipe, connecting Norway's Europipe 2 to Denmark and Poland. </p><p>PGNiG plans to produce 2.5bn m³/yr in Norway by 2026, and said today that the acquisitions should boost future aggregate output to at least 2.2bn m³/yr, and that it holds several other licenses for "promising" assets that are not yet producing. PGNiG holds 28 licences in Norway, but this would expand to 32 if the Kvitebjorn and Valemon stakes are approved.</p><p>Both Kvitebjorn and Valemon deliver to the Kollsnes gas processing plant, which also connects to a number of other Norwegian fields, and where there were <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2135118">significant unplanned restrictions</a> earlier this summer.</p><p>PGNiG has booked 8.3bn m³/yr of capacity along Baltic Pipe, and plans to supplement production with purchases from other firms producing on the Norwegian shelf. This could more tightly link Polish prices with other European markets where gas is received from Norway, including the UK's NBP, the Netherlands' TTF, France's Peg, Belgium's ZTP and Germany's planned merged virtual trading point. </p><p>Seprately, PGNiG said that its production in Pakistan was currently about 200mn m³/yr.</p><p class="bylines">By Paul Martin and Tomasz Stepien</p></article>
