Poland to increase gas export capacity to Ukraine amid winter heating crisis

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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.

Poland will increase capacity for gas exports to Ukraine from the beginning of February. Ukrainian energy minister Denys Shmyhal has hailed the move as vital to help his country handle a winter heating crisis caused by Russia’s attacks.

On Tuesday, Shmyhal announced that the two countries’ gas transmission operators had agreed a phased increase in capacity for importing gas from Poland to Ukraine. Between the start of February and end of April, capacity will rise from 15.3 million to 18.4 million cubic metres a day.

“This is an important agreement to ensure a stable heat supply to Ukrainian homes, hospitals, schools and critical infrastructure,” said Shmyhal. “We thank our Polish partners for their consistent support of Ukraine and joint work on strengthening our energy sustainability.”

Ukrainians have been struggling to stay warm this winter as Russian attacks have taken out energy infrastructure and temperatures have regularly dropped below -15°C.

Earlier this month, the authorities reported that almost 60% of buildings in Kyiv have no electricity and a similar proportion lack heating. President Volodymyr Zelensky accuses Russia of deliberately targeting energy infrastructure to make civilians suffer.

In addition to increasing gas export capacity, Poland has also sent hundreds of electricity generators from the government’s strategic reserves to Ukraine.

Poland’s gas transmission system operator, Gaz-System, had already announced last week that it would increase capacity for exports to Ukraine from February thanks to the modernisation of the metering station in Hermanowice on the Polish-Ukrainian border.

Last year, Polish state energy giant Orlen signed an agreement to supply Ukraine with gas. The Polish government also outlined its aim for Poland to become a hub for increased exports of gas that it receives as liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States.

In his comments on Wednesday, Shmyhal noted that Poland is now a “key route” for Ukraine’s gas supplies. “In 2025, 2.1 billion cubic meters of gas were delivered through Poland – more than 30% of the total import volume, including about 600 million cubic meters of American LNG.”

On Tuesday this week, Polish energy minister Miłosz Motyka said that the EU’s plans to phase out all imports of Russian gas by 2027 offer a further opportunity to “build Poland’s strategic position in the region”.

“Thanks to our partnership with the United States, we can become Northern Europe’s gateway to secure gas supplies from other sources,” said Motyka. “Countries in our region, including Ukraine, can benefit from this.”

In 2022, Poland opened a new gas interconnector with Slovakia that was supposed to play a role in helping its southern neighbour diversify away from Russian gas. However, Slovakia has continued to rely on supplies from Russia, meaning that the pipeline has remained largely idle since it opened.

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.

Image credits: Gaz-System (press materials)

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.