PGNiG's forecast for foreign gas production has been slashed to 0.4 billion cubic meters from 0.5 billion cubic meters Courtesy of PGNIG

Poland’s state-controlled oil and gas monopolist PGNiG has cut its output forecasts for natural gas and oil produced outside of Poland for the period 2012-13.

Its forecast for gas production has been slashed to 0.4 billion cubic meters from 0.5 billion cubic meters. PGNiG has also cut its outlook for foreign crude oil extraction to 370,000 metric tons from 490,000 tons.

The change in forecasts for crude oil and natural gas extracted outside of Poland is a result of the postponement of a production launch in Norway, as well as a later-than-expected launch of production in Pakistan, the company wrote in a statement.

With regards to production of oil and gas in Poland, PGNiG’s targets haven’t changed and remain at 4.4 billion cubic meters of gas and 750,000 tons of oil.

Meanwhile the company also announced last week that it will work with Polish oil company Grupa Lotos and collaborate with four Polish education institutes to develop new technologies for shale gas extraction. The companies hope to receive funds for research and development for original technologies to extract shale gas, from the Blue Gas program, which has a total budget of zł.1 billion.

The program was initiated by the Treasury Ministry and is being led by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBiR) and the Industrial Development Agency (ARP). The state will provide around zł.500 million, while another zł.500 million is expected to be made available by enterprises interested in utilizing the results of the projects.

Other state-controlled companies including PGE, KGHM, Enea and Tauron also reportedly want to compete for the Blue Gas money.