Europe / Caspian / CIS
Country profile: Poland
Location: | billion cu m (1 January 2006 est.) |
Climate: | temperate with cold, cloudy, moderately severe winters with frequent precipitation; mild summers with frequent showers and thundershowers |
Terrain: | mostly flat plain; mountains along southern border |
Size: | 312679 sq. km total (Land area: 304459 sq. km Water area: 8220 sq.km) |
Population: | 38,500,696 (July 2008 est.) |
Languages: | Polish 97.8%, other and unspecified 2.2% (2002 census) |
Government: | republic |
Capital city: | Warsaw |
Legal system: | based on a mixture of Continental (Napoleonic) civil law and holdover Communist legal theory; changes being gradually introduced as part of broader democratization process; limited judicial review of legislative acts |
Currency: | zloty (PLN) |
Licensing: |
Country profile
Poland, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic (commonly referred to as Slovakia), and Hungary are members of the Visegrad Group, created in February 1991 at the northern Hungarian town of Visegrad. After World War II until 1989-1990, these countries were Communist states, as well as members of the Warsaw Pact. On January 1, 1993, the Czech and Slovak Republics, previously Czechoslovakia, split to form two separate states. During the past decade, the Visegrad group has made the transition to democracy and to market-based economies. On May 1, 2004, the Visegrad countries became members of the European Union (EU). In 1999, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic became the first former Warsaw Pact countries to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) . Slovakia joined NATO in 2004. The Czech Republic became a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1995, Hungary and Poland joined in 1996, and Slovakia in 2001.
As members of the Visegrad Group, the four countries also belong to Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) . Slovenia , Romania , and Bulgaria are members too. The Visegrad countries are dependent on trade with the EU, in particular with Germany . These four countries also continue to face economic restructuring challenges, including: modernizing large, and to a certain extent, antiquated agricultural sectors (especially in Poland); implementing more energy efficient processes for industry in order to decrease energy consumption; absorbing the costs from cleaning up heavily-polluting industries; and adapting industries and services to EU standards.
Energy production and consumption
Oil | Gas | |
Production: | 32,800 bbl/day (2005 est.) | 5 billion cu m (2005) |
Consumption: | 462,700 bbl/day (2005 est.) | 15 billion cu m (2005) |
Exports: | 51,780 bbl/day (2004 est.) | 42 million cu m (2005) |
Imports: | 480,300 bbl/day (2004 est.) | 10 billion cu m (2005) |
Reserves: | 96 million bbl (1 January 2006 est.) | 158 billion cu m (1 January 2006 est.) |
Major fields: |
Poland - recent news
27 Mar 24 |
Poland: Vestas wins 37 MW project in Poland Vestas has received a firm order from Energa Green Development, a subsidiary of the ORLEN Group, for the Szybowice project in Opolskie, Poland. |
19 Feb 24 |
Poland: Siemens Gamesa to supply Baltyk 2 and Baltyk 3 projects with their largest offshore wind turbines to date Equinor and Polenergia have selected Siemens Gamesa as their wind turbine supplier for the Baltyk II and Baltyk III offshore wind farms located in the Baltic Sea. The two energy companies have signed final contracts for the production, delivery and service of 100 modern offshore wind turbines. |
14 Feb 24 |
Poland: Van Oord awarded contract for large-scale offshore wind project in Poland Van Oord has been contracted for the construction of the Baltica 2 Offshore Wind Farm, developed by Ørsted and PGE. The wind farm is located 40 kms offshore in the Polish area of the Baltic Sea. With a production capacity of 1.5 GW, the wind farm will be Poland’s largest-ever renewable energy project. |
04 Feb 24 |
Poland: GAZ-SYSTEM selects the shipowner for further arrangements of terms of delivery of the first FSRU to Poland GAZ-SYSTEM has selected the best offer for the delivery and operation of the Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) intended to serve as an LNG regasification terminal in the Gulf of Gdansk. GAZ-SYSTEM will continue negotiations of the terms of the FSRU Time Charter Party agreement with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines. |
15 Jan 24 |
Poland: SSE Renewables expands solar pipeline in Poland SSE Renewables has further expanded its solar photovoltaics (‘solar PV’) pipeline in Northern Europe, with the acquisition of a 400MW portfolio of early-stage projects in Poland from developer IBC Solar. |
Poland - more news
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