WARSAW: Polish state-run gas firm PGNiG said on Monday it has doubled its gas output in Pakistan to more than 0.5 million cubic metres a day after it launched production at a new deposit earlier this month.

The company started gas production last year at its Pakistani Rehman deposit, whose total reserves are estimated at 4.5 billion cubic metres.

It has started three boreholes to date and is working on another, which will help it boost production. “We continue preparatory work to drill the next holes to further increase gas production,” PGNiG Chief Executive Officer Piotr Wozniak was quoted as saying in the company’s statement.

PGNiG imports most of the gas it sells from Russia’s Gazprom and has taken steps to reduce that reliance.

The company sees its 2016 gas production at Polish deposits at 3.9 billion cubic metres, 0.5bcm in Norway and 0.1bcm in Pakistan. Poland consumes around 14bcm of gas annually.

Published in Dawn November 22nd, 2016