Gas transmission operator Gaz-System on Monday increased the share capital of its subsidiary Polskie LNG by zł.300 million to help it fund construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal in Świnoujście, a port located in Poland's northwest.

Combined with a second tranche of shares due later this year, the share issue should give Polskie LNG sufficient funds until the middle of next year, Rzeczpospolita quoted Gaz-System president Jan Chadam as saying.

Gaz-System also revealed that it would need to spend zł.5 billion on pipeline infrastructure to transport the gas from the LNG terminal.

A consortium of construction firms signed a contract worth zł.2.41 billion with Polskie LNG in late July to build the LNG terminal. Polskie LNG was itself established to organize the construction of the terminal, as well as to operate it upon completion.

The terminal is designed to improve Poland's energy security, allowing the country to receive seaborne shipments of LNG. Poland currently uses around 14 billion cubic meters of gas every year, which is mainly sourced from Russian gas monopolist Gazprom.

“The LNG terminal construction will make Poland independent in choosing the directions of natural gas supply as ,thanks to it, we will be able to off-take gas by sea and realize the contract signed with Qatar. The LNG terminal construction is the first of its kind in this part of Europe,” Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad said when the consortium signed the contract.

The LNG terminal should be operational by June 30, 2014. It will have an initial capacity of five billion cubic meters of natural gas, with the possibility of expanding capacity to 7.5 billion cubic meters.