The find was made during exploration in the Baltic Sea, approximately 6 kilometers off the coast of Świnoujście, a Polish city in the country’s northwest near the German border.
According to estimates, the newly identified Wolin East field holds around 22 million tons of recoverable hydrocarbons - including crude oil and condensate - as well as 5 billion cubic meters of commercially viable natural gas.
In total, the broader Wolin concession area is believed to contain over 33 million tons of oil and condensate and 27 billion cubic meters of market-quality gas.
Company CEO Rolf Skaar described the find as “the largest conventional hydrocarbon discovery ever made in Poland and one of the largest conventional oil finds in Europe in the last decade.”
Speaking to Polish state news agency PAP, Skaar said the well-confirmed Wolin East site could rival or surpass the scale of the Barnówko-Mostno-Buszewo (BMB) field, long considered one of Poland’s largest.
“BMB holds around 400-500 million barrels of oil, with an estimated recovery of 100 million barrels. We’re talking about a deposit of the same scale - if not larger,” he said.
Search for development partners
The Canadian company Central European Petroleum, which has contracted the US firm Noble Corporation to operate its drilling activities in Poland, is now seeking Polish and international partners to develop the newly discovered Wolin oil and gas field.
This project could significantly boost Poland’s domestic energy production. With 95 percent of the country's oil currently imported, the company says the Baltic Sea project could more than double national crude output and increase gas production by 20 percent.
'Historic discovery in the Baltic Sea': Polish MEP
Dariusz Joński, a Polish MEP, emphasized the significance of Monday’s announcement: “Historic discovery in the Baltic Sea. The Wolin East field is the largest conventional oil discovery in Poland’s history and one of the biggest in Europe. This is a huge opportunity for the national energy sector – the oil reserves amount to as much as 20 times Poland’s annual production, and the gas reserves are five times that amount!”
Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski also commented on the discovery, listing it alongside what he described as three other recent successes for the country: the safe return of Polish astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from the AX-4 space mission, Polish tennis star Iga Świątek’s victory at this year’s Wimbledon, and what officials say is the record allocation for Poland in the EU’s 2028–2034 budget.
“Perhaps God really does love Poland's current coalition government,” the top diplomat remarked.
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Source: cepetro.com/biznes.pap.pl/X/@Dariusz_Jonski/@sikorskiradek
Click on the audio player above to listen to a report by Michał Owczarek.