The largest gas deposit in Poland discovered by PGNiG (Polish Oil and Gas Company) near Kutno is a tip of the iceberg. Nearby there are gigantic deposits of the shale gas – geologists claim. Anyone who will drill to them first, will make a fortune.
In the region of Kutno, located only less than 90 km from the strip where the corporations focused on looking for the shale gas, there may be subsequent potential deposits of the unconventional resource. The discovery of June made by PGNiG which found natural gas deposit put the geologists on their trails. The conclusions are surprising. “The deposit near Kutno is located on sand sediments and sandstones are not a gas source. So where from did it get there? The answer is clear: “PGNiG discovered only natural storage of gas and its source should be looked for somewhere else,” says to “DGP" Mr. Jan Krasoń, PhD, world renown geologist who works for the largest companies. It was not necessary to wait long for the results of the discovery: the companies looking for the shale gas in Poland have immediately asked scientists working for them to target Kutno.
“Such gigantic gas collector which was found by PGNiG means that in the vicinity there must be huge reserves of the shale gas which fed it,” explains us one of the experts. According to him this is evidenced by the fact that the deposit is located in the formations of the so-called red sandstone, notably, rock created many millions of years ago which due to its porosity makes up a vessel for oil and gas. Such rock occurs near Polish Lowland – from Koszalin through Toruń, Kutno, Opole, Wrocław, Gubin to Szczecin. “This opens the new exploratory opportunities,” says Jan Krasoń. On this site only PGNiG and the US FX Energy have a few licenses. Still a large area is left for development. As the existing most attractive areas covered by the licenses have already been booked, the corporations line up for the new licenses.
As we have found out, among others, the Podniesiński family, one of the richest families in Poland which owns for example Baltic Energy Resources, a company trying to get exploratory licenses on the Baltic Sea, got interested in the Kutno region. The shale gas in the Kutno region occurs on significant depth. Geologists claim that it will be necessary to drill at 6,000 – 7,000 meters. Meanwhile, in places where exploratory work is already in progress, drillings are made at 3,000 – 4,000 meters. Also, the type of the resource will be slightly different because near Kutno unconventional gas will be highly nitrogen-rich. However, this is not a problem, the quality of gas will not deteriorate, and nitrogen may be used for example for the production of fertilisers. So far, the Ministry of Environment has issued 99 licenses for unconventional gas explorations. Only since the beginning of this year, 20 more were added. The applications for another dozen of permits have already been filed with the ministry. Today, about 20 companies are looking for the resource.
It is difficult to specify the volume of the unconventional gas reserves near Kutno, experts claim that they may be gigantic, many times larger than the deposits of conventional gas discovered in that region estimated at 100 billion cubic meters. Marek Karabuła, Vice President of PGNiG, however, reserves that the size of conventional deposits would be confirmed only after the first exploratory well is made which is planned for this month. Tests will take a few months. If the estimates are confirmed, Poland will double its documented gas reserves. According to PGNiG a deposit of such size may be exploited for 25 years. With forecast annual consumption of such fuel at 16 billion cubic meters, it would cover approx. 25% of the demand.
Source: Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, on page: 11, 2011-08-01, by Michał Duszczyk