Polish energy giant PGNiG strikes shale gas gold?

The discovery was made on Thursday at Opalino, northern Poland, within the company's concession at Wejherowo.

“We want to develop this as quickly as possible,” affirmed chairman of PGNiG Grazyna Piotrowska-Oliwa, in a statement.

The deposit was discovered at a depth of 3000 metres, but the company aims to continue drilling deeper at the site, in line with initial plans.

PGNiG forecasts that the Wejherowo area will be one of the most fruitful of its overall collection of 15 shale gas concessions.

Poland has pledged to invest some 50 billion zlotys (15.5 billion euros) in the exploration of shale gas by 2020.

Poland's National Geological Institute (PIG) believes that the country's shale gas deposits are the third largest in Europe.

The investment is part of Warsaw's strategy to become less dependent on Russian energy (a nuclear power plant is also intended to be built by 2023).

Since 2007, over 110 licenses for shale gas exploration have been issued, including the 15 managed by PGNiG. (nh)