The Polish gas and oil giant Orlen has started exploiting the Różańsko natural gas field, located in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, which has natural gas resources estimated at 1.2 billion m3, the company announced.
The investment in Różańsk will contribute to increasing domestic natural gas production by up to 130 million m3 per year. Orlen will continue to extract from this deposit for the next 20 years, i.e., at a time when the domestic economy’s demand for natural gas will be greatest.
“Gas from Różańsk will primarily power the combined heat and power plants in Kostrzyn nad Odrą and Gorzów Wielkopolski. Crude oil and liquid sulfur, produced, among others, thanks to a new gas desulfurization installation, will flow to Polish industry,” the press release stated.
Mining begins
“Domestic gas and oil extraction is one of the pillars of our energy security. Currently, we obtain about one-fifth of the natural gas we need in Poland – that’s nearly 3.5 billion m3 per year. In the coming years, as demand for this raw material increases, our production will systematically increase to reach 4 billion m3 in 2030,” said Wiesław Prugar, member of the Orlen management board for Upstream.
“The raw materials we extract work for the benefit of the entire economy – gas powers the energy and heating sectors, oil goes to domestic petrochemical and refinery installations, being the basis for the production of fuels and plastics, among other things, and sulfur is an important component in the production of artificial fertilizers and tires,” he added.
New gas field
Orlen said that the development of the deposit included the modernization of three existing production wells with the expansion of the installation, as well as the construction of a new pipeline allowing the connection of the deposit with one of the largest mining installations in the country, the Dębno Oil and Natural Gas Mine.
It was expanded with an 8 MW cogeneration unit, powered by gas from nearby deposits. This will ensure that the mines fully meet their electricity and process heat needs, with surpluses reaching the market. The expansion also enabled increased production from the nearby Cychra deposit.
“Strengthening domestic production is part of the Orlen 2035 strategy, which assumes an increase in gas production in Poland to 4 billion m3 per year in 2030. At the same time, the Orlen Group is developing projects on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and plans further foreign investments to reach 12 billion m3 of gas from its own deposits by the end of the decade,” the company said.
The Orlen Group manages refineries in Poland, the Czech Republic and Lithuania, conducts retail operations in Central Europe, mining operations in Poland, Norway, Canada and Pakistan, and is also involved in energy production, including renewable energy and natural gas distribution.
As part of the construction of the multi-energy concern, the company finalized the acquisitions of Energa, Grupa Lotos and PGNiG. Its consolidated sales revenues reached PLN 296.95 billion in 2024. The company has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 1999 and is part of the WIG20 index.
