Orlen has terminated one of its two long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply contracts with QatarEnergy, following an ongoing force majeure event that prevented the supplier from fulfilling its delivery obligations.
The Polish energy group said the contract will formally remain in place for 60 days after the notice of termination.
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The terminated contract was originally signed by Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo (PGNiG) with QatarEnergy (formerly Qatar Liquefied Gas Company) in June 2009. It covered annual deliveries of one million tonnes of LNG, equivalent to approximately 15.3TWh.
Orlen estimates the agreement’s value for 2026 at around €570m ($638.3m) for 2026 and said it was set to run until 2034.
The supply agreement relied on a pricing formula based on crude oil quotations.
Force majeure was declared after a disruption in Qatari LNG exports, reportedly following drone attacks on LNG facilities in Ras Laffan and interruptions to tanker movements through the Strait of Hormuz earlier this year.
Orlen indicated last month it had expected deliveries from Qatar to resume in mid-November after several months’ disruption, but the ongoing inability to meet obligations led to the termination decision.
QatarEnergy did not immediately provide a comment in response to the announcement.
Despite ending one contract, Orlen stated that this move would not jeopardise Poland’s gas supply security.
The company said in a statement cited by Reuters: “The decision to terminate the Agreement does not affect the security of gas supplies. Gas production from the Company’s own fields, together with its long-term gas supply agreements, ensures full coverage of Orlen Group’s gas requirements.”
Orlen continues to operate a second long-term LNG supply deal with QatarEnergy, based on gas market pricing formulae, covering up to one million tonnes a year through to 2034.
The company is also a customer of US-based Venture Global, from which it recently began receiving deliveries from the first phase of the Plaquemines export project in Louisiana. Orlen also sources natural gas from offshore Norwegian operations.
When first agreed upon in 2009, Orlen’s LNG contracts with QatarEnergy used terms widely prevalent at the time, including links to the price of Brent crude oil.
More recently, LNG buyers have increasingly secured supplies under alternative pricing mechanisms, including spot-linked and gas-indexed contracts.
