New Opportunities for Oil and Gas Exploration in Poland—A Review

Krystian Wójcik,Hubert Kiersnowski,Adam Wójcicki,Sara Wróblewska,Agnieszka Chylińska-Macios,Marcin Łojek,Jarosław Zacharski,Katarzyna Sobień,Jagoda Sienkiewicz,Krzysztof Waśkiewicz,Rafał Laskowicz,Tadeusz Peryt

doi:10.3390/en15051739

Abstract

Reserves totaling ~142 BCM (5 TCF) of natural gas trapped in 306 fields and ~22 MTOE (~157 MMBOE) of crude oil in 87 fields have been discovered. The prospection, exploration, and production of hydrocarbons are licensed: an entity interested in these kinds of activities needs to have concession, which is granted by the Polish Ministry of Climate and Environment for 10 to 30 years according to one of two independent ways—international tender or open door procedure. In this review, the most prospective areas for oil and gas exploration in Poland, selected by the Polish Geological Survey, and announced as dedicated for the next 6th tender round, planned in the second half of 2022, are described. These are: Block 413–414, Block 208, Cybinka–Torzym, Zielona Góra West, and Koło areas. The main exploration target of these tender areas is related to conventional and unconventional accumulations of gas and oil in the Carpathian basement, Carpathian Foredeep, and Outer Carpathians (Block 413–414), as well as in the Carboniferous, Permian Rotliegend, Zechstein Main Dolomite (Block 208, Cybinka–Torzym, Zielona Góra West), and in the Mesozoic of the Polish Lowlands (Koło). The second way of granting concession in Poland is the so-called open door procedure, in which an entity may apply for a concession for any other area selected on its own.

Highlights

Oil and gas exploration and production in Poland can be traced back to the nineteenth century
According to the latest balance of mineral resources deposits in Poland, a report, which is published annually by the Polish Geological Survey [1,2], reserves totaling ~142 BCM (5 TCF) of natural gas trapped in 306 fields, and ~22 MTOE (~157 MMBOE) of crude oil in 87 fields have been discovered in Poland (Figure 1)
The Block 413–414 tender area was subjected to the hydrocarbon prospecting and exploration concessions no 33/99/p, 25/2001/p, and 43/2010/p, which resulted in the discovery of several prospective structures in the autochthonous Miocene of the Carpathian Foredeep and Paleozoic-Mesozoic basement

Summary

Introduction

Oil and gas exploration and production in Poland can be traced back to the nineteenth century. According to the latest balance of mineral resources deposits in Poland, a report, which is published annually by the Polish Geological Survey [1,2], reserves totaling ~142 BCM (5 TCF) of natural gas trapped in 306 fields, and ~22 MTOE (~157 MMBOE) of crude oil in 87 fields have been discovered in Poland (Figure 1). Crude oil production reached almost 1 MTOE (~6.5 MMBOE), covering ~3.7% of ~27 MTOE (192.9 MMBOE) demand This illustrates a huge gap between supply and demand in Poland, which may be balanced somewhat by new discoveries expected in different geological horizons. Consumption in 2020 in Europe, excluding Russia and Belarus, was 14% of global energy consumption; oil and gas continue to hold the largest share of the energy mix (58%) [3]

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Conclusion