On Friday, July 8th 2016, Piotr Woźniak, PGNiG S.A.’s CEO, signed an annex to a memorandum of understanding with the International Centre of Excellence on Coal Mine Methane, thereby making PGNiG S.A. a partner in an initiative which acts as the centre for international cooperation on methane issues.

„Methane is a valuable source of energy that is largely wasted in the production of hard coal. Its recovery should be significantly improved. Our cooperation with the International Centre of Excellence will open avenues for pursuing new technologies, improving the efficiency of coalbed methane removal and extraction,” said Piotr Woźniak, PGNiG’s CEO. „Poland has been a member of the Global Methane Initiative since 2007. Following many years of stagnation, we are now reviving international cooperation in this area under a new format,” he added.

The memorandum of understanding on establishing the International Centre of Excellence on Coal Mine Methane was signed in 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland. The Centre became operational in 2016 at the Central Mining Institute (Główny Instytut Górnictwa, GIG), under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The UNECE is one of the UN’s regional commissions tasked with developing economic cooperation, as well as promoting and implementing principles of sustainable development. The Centre of Excellence brings together experts seeking to innovate methods of capturing and utilising coal mine methane. It also specialises in collecting information and experiences in managing coal mine methane in accordance with the principles of sustainable development, a course strongly emphasised by the UN.

Together with PGNiG S.A.’s Management Board members, in the presence of Michał Kurtyka, Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Energy, the annex was signed by Scott Foster, Director of the UNECE Sustainable Division, Stanisław Prusek, Director-General of the Central Mining Institute, and Tomasz Nałęcz, Deputy Director of the Polish Geological Institute − National Research Institute (PGI-NRI).

„I am thrilled to see that the activities on the Centre are gaining traction. With the help of PGNiG and PIG-PIB, UNECE and GIG hope to expand the reach of the Centre and engage with a wider community in order to raise awareness on the challenges and opportunities in methane management,” said Scott Foster of the UNECE.

„By joining the International Centre for Excellence on Coal Mine Methane, PGNiG will be in a position to tap into expert knowledge, gaining subject-matter and technological support for our projects,” remarked Łukasz Kroplewski, PGNiG S.A.’s Vice-President for Development. „We want the attract more attention to the issue of new methods of extracting methane in Poland. In the United States, Canada and Australia methane from active mines and non-producing coal beds is a major source of energy,” he added.

Methane is present in mine gases (coal mine methane - CMM) and coal beds (coal-bed methane - CBM). In the case of CMM, the gas released in the course of coal mining is extracted underground or from ventilation air. In the case of CBM, methane contained in coal beds is extracted from coal seams close to the surface, e.g. using the technology of hydraulic fracturing in boreholes.

In autumn 2016, PGNiG, in cooperation with the Polish Geological Institute, will start tests of an innovative method of CBM extraction in Gilowice, the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. PGNiG will draw on its experience in stimulation through hydraulic fracturing, which it has performed as part of shale gas exploration projects. If the tests yield positive results, the mining industry will have a new source of income. Moreover, methane risk at coal mines will be mitigated and methane emissions will be reduced.

PGNiG S.A. Communications Department