“Biggest oil discovery in Poland’s history” made in Baltic Sea

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

A Canadian firm that has been exploring potential energy deposits off Poland’s northern Baltic coast claims to have made the largest oil discovery in the country’s history. The find also includes billions of cubic metres of natural gas.

Central European Petroleum (CEP) today announced that it has found a deposit containing 22 million tonnes of oil and 5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas at the Wolin East 1 well, which is located around 6 kilometres from the port city of Świnoujście in northwest Poland.

That is “the largest conventional oil discovery in Poland’s history and one of the largest in Europe”, says CEP, which is registered in Canada but carries out exploration for oil deposits within the European Union. “This is a historic moment for both Central European Petroleum and the Polish energy sector.”

Krzysztof Galos, who is Poland’s chief geologist and serves as a deputy climate and environment minister, also cautiously welcomed the news.

“The discovery of the Wolin East hydrocarbon deposit – although it still requires the preparation, submission, and approval of the deposit’s geological documentation – could prove to be a breakthrough in the history of hydrocarbon exploration in Poland,” he said, quoted by Business Insider Polska.

“If this discovery is ultimately confirmed, the Wolin East deposit could become the largest deposit of crude oil and associated natural gas ever discovered in Poland,” added Galos, saying that this could help strengthen the country’s energy security by reducing reliance on imports.

Business Insider notes that CEP’s newly announced discovery relates to just one well. Total reserves in the entire Wolin concession are expected to reach 27 bcm of gas and 33 million tonnes of oil.

That would more than double Poland’s existing estimated oil reserves, which stood at 20.24 million tonnes in 2023, reports broadcaster TVN.

Eurostat data show that Poland consumed around 30 million tonnes of oil and petroleum products in 2023. Its annual natural gas consumption is around 20 bcm.

CEP’s map of the Wolin concession area on Poland’s northwestern coast.

CEP obtained rights to the Wolin concession in 2017 from Poland’s climate and environment ministry. In February this year, it announced that it had completed drilling its first well, Wolin East 1, but would need a few months to properly analyse the “promising-looking” findings.

A potential obstacle to extracting oil and gas there may come from an environmental challenge launched by an organisation, Lebensraum Vorpommern, in neighbouring Germany.

Świnoujście sits right alongside the German border and Lebensraum Vorpommern claims that “possible gas extraction off the coast” will cause “the threat of further destruction of our coastal landscape”. It is also opposed to the planned construction of a new deepwater shipping terminal in the Polish city.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Kayden Moore/Pexels

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.