According to first estimates, it could be the largest hydrocarbon deposit ever discovered in the country. Poland sees it as a way to increase its energy independence, while today it produces 3% of its oil needs.
“The discovery of the decade”, already dared to titrate the local press last week, after the discovery of 22 million tonnes of crude oil and 5 billion m3 of buried gas off the Polish coast.
According to Polish media, this new source of hydrocarbons could increase the strategic independence of the country, whose refineries are mainly important to Saudi oil.
Even if the deposit was even greater, there would be nothing to make the country self -sufficient in oil
The director of the Geology Institute, Krzysztof Szamałek, however calls for restraint. “If this estimate was confirmed by the figures, that would mean that we would be dealing with the greatest oil deposit in Poland. But even if it was even greater, there would be nothing to make the country self-sufficient in oil,” he said on Monday in the morning.
Invest in green technologies rather?
Today, Poland produces 3% of its black gold needs. A proportion that this new deposit could double, without radically changing the situation according to Leszek Wiwała, at the head of the Polish organization of industry and oil trade.
“In an era where we must withdraw from oil, develop electric mobility, invest in the low-emission economy, it is more sensible to invest in green technologies than investing in a deposit that will only be profitable in 15 or 20 years,” he said.
However, the deposit, located in the border area with Germany already attracts the lust of Berlin, where certain voices are already rising to claim a sharing of resources.
Radio subject: Adrien Sarlat
Adaptation web: Julie Liardet