Polish oil and gas industry proposals rejected by environment ministry

The final session of the Parliamentary Committee on Energy and Energy Resources saw oil and gas industry representatives propose 114 amendments to a new “Geology and Mining” law, which covers shale gas, but only two of the proposals were accepted by the environment ministry, the Polish media wrote in May 2014.

“The majority of the changes that we proposed were aimed at limiting the administrative procedures and bureaucratic barriers that have a direct impact on how fast prospecting and exploration takes in Poland,” Kamlesh Parmar, CEO of the Polish Exploration and Production Industry Organization (OPPPW), told Polish daily Rzeczpospolita. “We are concerned that, should our postulates not be accepted, we will lose our chance to quicken the pace of exploration.”   

The vast majority of the 114 changes were proposed by the OPPW (49), and Polish gas and oil giants: PGNiG (33) and Orlen (18). The Polish Environment Ministry accepted only one of these proposals in full and another one only partially.

The main industry proposal was to establish a five-year period during which operators who had previously completed prospecting and exploration work would have priority in obtaining exploration licences for these areas. The current law does give such priority, but only for a two-year period of time.

Photo courtesy of Atalanta