The construction works associated with the project began in March 2011 and were supposed to end in June 2014, but only now has the investment entered the key implementation phase. “The tests and trials linked with the acceptance procedures as well as preparatory activities for commissioning and start-up are performed simultaneously with the construction works.   On the average, 1200 people are busy working at the construction site each day", explains Maciej Mazur, the head of the communication office at LNG S.A.

 

“Supplies and assembly works in respect of all devices and equipment within the terminal are 100% complete”, he adds.  The final stage of the construction works is in progress regarding all aspects of the project, including the main structures of the LNG terminal, i.e. the storage tanks.    At present the so-called pre-commissioning tests are under way. In addition, over the past four months, individual receipt and start-up systems have been successively inspected and signed off. 

 

The following tasks are yet to be done: finalizing pressure tests on process piping, finalizing pipeline insulation, the works associated with draining LNG tanks and following that – the draining of the piping.  

 

However, even after these tasks are completed, the LNG terminal in Świnoujście will not yet be finished. An additional tank for storing liquefied gas is to be construed. This investment has been included in the power infrastructure plans of the Ministry of Economy which are to be subsidized from the EU funds for infrastructure and environment for years 2014-2020.

 

The new investment will make it possible to offload up to 7.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which corresponds to over 40 per cent of the current annual demand in Poland.

  

The project is worth more than PLN 3 billion and it will allow us to receive natural gas by sea from anywhere in the world. The Polish LNG S.A. acts as the investor of the project and a consortium led by an Italian company (Saipem) is the general contractor. 

 

Nonetheless, the exact date when the LNG terminal becomes operational has not been appointed.  “The consortium led by the Italian company – Saipem has informed us that the terminal will start working in 2015”, says Maciej Mazur. If we take into account that the works progressed by one per cent over one month, the terminal is forecast to be opened around mid-year.

 

AK