Polish Oil & Gas Co. (PGNiG), one of Central Europe’s leading utilities, has more than doubled the amount of liquefied natural gas (LNG) it plans to import from the United States via Venture Global LNG’s proposed export facility in Plaquemines Parish, LA.

In a ceremony in Washington, DC, attended by Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and Piotr Naimski, Poland’s Secretary of State for Strategic Energy Infrastructure, PGNiG signed an agreement Wednesday to purchase 2.5 million metric tons/year (mmty) from the Plaquemines terminal.

That would be more than double the 1.0 mmty that PGNiG had previously agreed to export from the facility, and would bring the total volumes it has committed to buy from Venture to 3.5 mmty, including 1.0 mmty from the proposed Calcasieu Pass export facility in Cameron Parish, LA.

“Poland and the United States have a strong and strategic alliance and friendship, which is fortified by a shared commitment to energy security and an understanding that true energy security is achieved through energy diversity,” Perry said. The “announcement of the significant expansion of the existing LNG partnership between Venture Global and PGNiG further solidifies that goal.”

Deliveries from the Plaquemines terminal would begin with the facility’s expected commercial operation day in 2023, PGNiG said. Calcasieu Pass is scheduled to ramp up in 2022.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a final environmental impact statement last month for Plaquemines LNG and the companion 42-inch diameter Gator Express Pipeline Project [No. CP17-66].

The export project would consist of six pretreatment facilities, a liquefaction plant to be constructed in two phases, four 200,000 cubic meter aboveground storage tanks, three loading docks and air-cooled electric power generation facilities.

Only two weeks ago, Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners committed a $1.3 billion investment for the 10 mmty Calcasieu Pass project, bringing the total committed capital to fund its construction and the continued development of Venture’s 20 mmty Plaquemines LNG and 20 mmty Delta LNG facilities to $2.2 billion.

Delta LNG is targeting first deliveries by December 2023, with full start up of Phase 1 operations by November 2024.