Poland cheers the find of oil off its coast in the Baltic Sea by Canadian CEPetro. Announced last week, it will help the Eastern European nation of almost 40 million inhabitants to become less energy dependent, many in the country – including the government – say. But the find – Poland’s largest ever – is maybe not that big.
According to CEPetro (Central European Petroleum), the deposit of the Wolin East 1 well about 6 kilometres off the coast of Świnoujście holds 22 million tonnes of oil and 5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas.
The Polish oil find in perspective
That sounds like a lot, but the Polish national consumption is 30 million tonnes of oil Eurostat data show that Poland consumed around 30 million tonnes of oil, and about 20 bcm of gas, per year. The drilling in the Wolin East 1 well was done in shallow waters, of only 9.5 metres (31 feet) deep, and reached a 2,715 metres (8,908 feet) of depth.
From a different perspective, the Polish oil reserves would be more than doubled with the find – and experts say to Polish media it is likely to grow even up to a third bigger once more detailed exploration of the deposit has been done.
German reaction to the Polish oil find
The Polish oil find has made the Germans somewhat nervous. As the field is at the Polish-German border, some German voices say that Berlin should be part of the deal. Others fear that the threat of oil spills might endanger touristic hotspots on the German Baltic Sea coast. | © 2025 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featured image: By CEPetro released photo of the oil rig used to discover the deposit in the Wolin East 1 field (Photo: CEPetro)