A major Polish oil & gas discovery
was just announced by Central European Petroleum (CEP) a few kilometers
offshore, far northwest Poland, near the German border. It has been touted as
one of Europe’s biggest oil and gas discoveries of the past decade. The find is
along the margin of Poland’s Permian Basin. The reservoir rocks appear to be a
zone in the prolific Zechstein Dolomite, specifically the Ca2 main dolomite,
with significant potential in the Rotleigand Sandstone below the dolomite.
I wrote about oil & gas in Poland in September 2024,
and this new discovery adds a new source to that. Poland, along with several
European countries, imports the vast majority of their oil & gas, so new
domestic discoveries could benefit the country. I wrote then:
“Currently, Poland imports up to 95% of the oil it
consumes. Thus, finding domestic oil is very significant. Poland has worked
hard to wean itself off of Russian oil and gas. Poland consumes about 580,000
barrels of oil daily, of which it imports approximately 540,000 barrels. In
2023, about 45% of Poland’s oil was imported from Saudi Arabia. For a country
very dependent on imports, even small oil finds are significant. Russia was, of
course, opposed to the development of Polish shale gas when it was being pursued, since it would compete with Russian gas. Poland’s electricity grid is powered
mainly by carbon-intensive, air pollution-intensive lignite coal. A bigger
domestic natural gas industry could alleviate that pollution and CO2 emissions
by burning natural gas instead. However, at low production rates, it would
require lots of wells and increase land use, landowner, and environmental
issues as well.”
The new discovery is part of
CEP’s Wolin East Concession. The (WE1) well, some 6 kilometers from the port
city of Świnoujście in Poland's northwest, may contain 22 million tons of
recoverable crude oil and condensate, along with 5 billion cubic meters of
commercial-grade natural gas. According to EuroNews:
“The broader concession area, spanning 593 square
kilometres, is estimated to contain over 33 million tonnes of oil and
condensate, as well as 27 billion cubic metres of gas.”
“That would more than double Poland’s current estimated
oil reserves, which stood at around 20.2 million tonnes in 2023, according to
Polish public broadcaster TVP.”
“If confirmed, the discovery would rank as Poland’s
largest conventional hydrocarbon deposit and among the biggest in Europe in the
last 10 years, according to the Polish Press Agency.”
CEP’s CEO Rolf G. Skaar
noted:
“Wolin East is more than just a promising deposit — it
is a joint opportunity to unlock the full geological and energy potential of
the Baltic Sea.”
The Polish Exclusive Economic Zone in the Baltic Sea, of
which Wolin East is a part, is considered to be underexplored, so more new
discoveries are possible. Wolin East could become the largest oil and
associated gas deposit ever discovered in Poland. That would be a victory for a
country that needs domestic energy and has suffered from failures and
geological issues in its once-touted shale gas reserves in the 2010s.
According to the press
release:
“Tests confirmed a 62-meter hydrocarbon column and
excellent reservoir properties for oil and gas production in the Main Dolomite
geological formation. “
“The Wolin East oil discovery is estimated to contain
mean recoverable oil, sales gas and natural gas liquids totalling 200 million
barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe).”
“There is also significant further low-risk exploration,
appraisal and secondary recovery potential within the license in the Main
Dolomite as well as in the deeper Rotliegend formation. With these
opportunities included, the Wolin license in total is estimated to contain more
than 400 mmboe of recoverable hydrocarbon resources.”
The WE1 well was drilled in
February 2025. The well then underwent logging, core analysis, and downhole
testing. The well was drilled with a jack-up rig to a depth of 2,715 meters in 9.5-meter deep waters. The well encountered a 62m hydrocarbon column in the Main Dolomite. Original estimates were for a higher gas content and a lower oil
content. In either case, Poland needs both gas and oil.
References:
Poland
discovers one of Europe's largest oil deposits in a decade. Weronika Wakulska.
EuroNews. July 21, 2025. Poland
discovers one of Europe's largest oil deposits in a decade
CENTRAL
EUROPEAN PETROLEUM MAKES MAJOR WOLIN EAST OIL DISCOVERY OFFSHORE POLAND.
Central European Petroleum. Press Release. July 21, 2025. cep-discovery-press-inf-july-2025.pdf
Central
European Petroleum (CEP) Completes Drilling of Wolin East 1 (WE 1) on the Wolin
Concession. February 23, 2024. press-information-completes-drilling-wolin-eng-f.pdf
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