Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo and LOTOS Petrobaltic started drilling an exploratory well on the Kamień Pomorski license. According to estimates in the area where the works are being prepared in the district of Golczewo (zachodniopomorskie voivodship) there may be even 7.5 m barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
„PGNiG will exhange knowledge with equally experienced partners, which gives us huge hopes of discovering significant oil deposits in the north of Poland,” Piotr Woźniak PGNiG’s CEO said.
„LOTOS is widening its competences when it comes to exploration and onshore production of hydrocarbons, which we will want to use in future onshore projects,” said Marcin Jastrzębski, LOTOS’s CEO. „Whereas we have years of experience in offshore extraction,” he added.
The location of the Stawno-1 well, which is over 3.2 km deep was determined on the basis of an interpretation of a 3D seismic photo. The drilling is conducted by Exalo Drilling SA, which is part of PGNiG’s capital group.
The cooperation between PGNiG and LOTOS on exploring for crude oil and natural gas goes back to 2012. At that time both companies analyzed the geological potential of a few onshore exploration license owned by PGNiG.
The most prospective license areas in the pomorskie, zachodniopomorskie i warmińsko-mazurskie voivodeships were selected for further exploration.
At the next stage of cooperation specialists from LOTOS Petrobaltic and PGNiG prepared a schedule for the chosen licenses and conducted an economic assessment. The schedule included the necessary works with regard to seismic research and exploratory and production drilling. When it comes to the Kamień Pomorski license, the companies have been cooperating since 2013. Back then 3D seismic pictures were taken and a year later they started works on PGNiG’s license in the area of Górowo Iławeckie (warmińsko-mazurskie voivodeship). So far they have conducted 2D seismic research there.
PGNiG works on 28 prospection and exploration oil and natural gas licenses and on 21 combined licenses. So far in the area of the Polish Plain, the company has had numerous successes when it comes to the discovery of hydrocarbon deposits. This allowed it to gain vast knowledge, experience and skills. In 2017 PGNiG will conduct works in 40 exploration and production wells across the country, located mostly in the following voivodeships: zachodniopomorskie, wielkopolskie, podkarpackie and małopolskie. Extraction of crude oil and condensate from PGNiG’s deposits located in Poland in accordance with the company’s production prognosis for 2017 will exceed 750 thousand tons. In 2017, PGNiG will spend about PLN 1.3 million on investments in the licenses owned by the company in Poland. Outside of the country, PGNiG is exploring and producing in Pakistan, whereas PGNiG Upstream Norway works on 18 licenses located on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, where it extracts oil and natural gas.
As the only company in Poland, LOTOS Petrobaltic operates on the Baltic Sea on 3 combined licenses and extracts crude oil from Cambrian deposits. Apart from that, the company acquired the rights, as an operator, to the first onshore prospection and exploration license Młynary in the warmińsko-mazurskie voivodeship. The companies of the LOTOS capital group are also exploring and producing in Lithuania and in the area of the Norwegian Continental Shelf in the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea. According to the assumptions of the Plan for Responsible Development published in 2016, by 2022 LOTOS is planning to spend a minimum of PLN 3 b. In 2018 a decision on spending an additional PLN 3 bn will be made. The money will be allocated to the most economically attractive projects in all segments of the Group’s activity.
