On May 5, 2026, Orlen and Norwegian Equinor started gas production from the Eirin field in the North Sea. The reserves hold 3 billion cubic metres of gas, with Poland’s annual net share reaching around 100–120 million cubic metres. That is a drop compared to Poland’s annual consumption of 16 billion cubic metres. But every extra cubic metre of Norwegian gas means less LNG from Qatar or the US. Moreover, production from Eirin emits only 3 kg of CO2 per barrel – the global average is 16 kg. Norwegian gas is clean, stable and already flowing to Poland via the Baltic Pipe.
The Eirin field is located in the North Sea, about 250 km west of Stavanger. Orlen Upstream Norway holds a 41.3 percent stake, which translates to nearly 11.5 million barrels of oil equivalent, including more than 1.2 billion cubic metres of gas. The remaining shares belong to Equinor, which is the licence operator. Production started according to the development plan approved in January 2024.
The production well at Eirin has been tied into the platform at the neighbouring Gina Krog field, in which Orlen Upstream Norway also holds a stake. By using existing infrastructure, the investment cost was lower and the implementation time shorter than building a standalone platform. Equinor, as operator, estimates that connecting Eirin will extend Gina Krog’s production life by seven years.
– Using existing infrastructure in this case means not only lower cost and shorter investment time, but also additional gas volumes. According to the operator’s forecasts, thanks to connecting Eirin we will be able to extend Gina Krog’s production life by seven years, thus increasing the recovery rate from this field – said Wiesław Prugar, Orlen’s management board member for exploration and production.
– This will allow the extraction of an additional 9.6 million barrels of oil equivalent, of which 4 million barrels for Orlen. This is an excellent example of our efficiency in managing the asset portfolio to maximise its value – said Prugar.
Green power for extraction
Extracting Eirin via the Gina Krog platform means that production from the new field is powered mainly by renewable energy. Since 2023, Gina Krog has been connected to shore by a subsea power cable, where about 90 percent of electricity is generated by hydroelectric plants and another 8 percent by wind turbines.
As a result, emissions associated with extraction from Eirin amount to just 3 kilogrammes of CO2 per barrel of oil equivalent. For comparison, the average for the entire Norwegian Continental Shelf is 6.7 kg CO2 per barrel, and the global average is about 16 kg CO2 per barrel. The difference comes from powering the platform with onshore electricity rather than with gas‑fired turbines burning extracted fuel – a common practice on many offshore fields worldwide.
The gas route to Poland
Gas produced from Eirin and Gina Krog is sent to the Sleipner field platform complex, in which Orlen also holds shares. There, the raw gas is conditioned to commercial specifications – cleaned, dried, compressed to the right pressure – and then directed to the exit point at Nybro, which connects the Norwegian transmission system with the Danish one. From there, gas is sent to Poland via the Baltic Pipe pipeline.
Baltic Pipe, launched on 1 October 2022, has a capacity of 10 billion cubic metres of gas per year from Norway to Poland. In 2025, Orlen extracted about 4.2 bcm of gas from Norwegian fields (via Orlen Upstream Norway), covering about 28 percent of domestic demand (data from Orlen’s 2025 annual report). The rest of the Norwegian gas imported to Poland came from other suppliers, mainly Equinor and Wintershall Dea, under long‑term contracts.
– Gas extracted from the Norwegian Continental Shelf is key to ensuring the energy security of Europe and Poland. Our presence in Norway is strategic and long‑term – said Ireneusz Fąfara, CEO of Orlen.
– The start of production from the Eirin field strengthens Orlen’s position in the region and confirms our determination and effectiveness in implementing investments that develop the shelf’s extraction potential. The gas we extract from Eirin is already flowing to Poland – he said.
Additional volumes
The Eirin field will deliver more than 0.25 bcm of gas annually (specifically, about 250–300 million cubic metres, based on 3 bcm total resources divided by an expected production life of 8‑12 years, typical for similar North Sea fields). For Orlen, with its 41.3 percent stake, net annual extraction is about 100‑120 million cubic metres. That is a small volume compared to Orlen’s total Norwegian output (4.2 bcm in 2025), but important for long‑term strategy – each new field delays the natural decline from existing fields.
In the Norwegian offshore sector, output from individual fields falls by an average of 6‑10 percent per year after peak production. Gina Krog, to which Eirin is tied, has been producing since 2017. Its peak output was about 90,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (in 2019). By 2025, it had fallen to about 45,000 barrels per day. Thanks to Eirin, Equinor forecasts not only a seven‑year extension of production but also an increase in daily output by about 10,000‑12,000 barrels of oil equivalent (gas and condensate). For Orlen, that means an extra 4,000‑5,000 barrels per day.
The Norwegian Continental Shelf is a marine area of about 1.8 million square kilometres, where Norway has produced oil and gas since 1971 (the Ekofisk discovery). According to the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), there are 93 discovered hydrocarbon fields in production, 34 under development and 57 undiscovered discoveries. Orlen Upstream Norway has interests in 29 licences (2025 data), of which 12 are producing fields, 8 are development projects and 9 are exploration areas.
Eirin is one of the smaller fields in Orlen’s portfolio. For comparison, the Ormen Lange field (where Orlen has a 1.6 percent stake) has resources of about 400 bcm of gas – more than 130 times larger than Eirin. But Orlen’s stake there is only 1.6 percent, while in Eirin it is 41.3 percent. Thanks to the high stake, the profit per barrel extracted is higher for Orlen than on large fields where it is a minor shareholder.
Emissions and climate
The low emission intensity of Eirin extraction (3 kg CO2 per barrel) is the result of Norwegian climate policy. Since 2020, the Norwegian government has required all new shelf projects to include shore‑side power (electrification) if technically feasible and economically justifiable. For Gina Krog, an 85‑km subsea power cable was laid in 2022 at a cost of NOK 2.3 billion (about PLN 920 million). Onshore power comes from the Norwegian electricity grid, which is 98.5 percent based on hydro and wind power (data from Statnett, the Norwegian transmission system operator, for 2025).
For comparison, a typical North Sea platform powered by its own gas turbines emits about 15‑20 kg CO2 per barrel equivalent. The difference between 3 and 18 kg gives a reduction of 15 kg per barrel. With Eirin producing about 15,000 barrels per day (total, not just Orlen’s share), the daily emission reduction is about 225 tonnes of CO2, or about 82,000 tonnes per year. That is as much as 18,000 passenger cars emit annually (assuming 12,000 km per year and 120 g CO2/km).
Potential further fields
Orlen Upstream Norway and Equinor assume that additional hydrocarbon resources may lie near Gina Krog and Eirin. This area – the northern North Sea near the Norwegian‑British border – was relatively poorly mapped seismically. In 2025, Equinor conducted new 3D seismic surveys over an area of 450 square kilometres around Gina Krog. Preliminary data interpretation identified three geological structures resembling hydrocarbon traps (so‑called prospects), each possibly containing 5 to 15 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Exploration drilling at these locations is planned for 2027‑2028. If resources are confirmed, Orlen (as a licence holder) will have the right to extract them under the current agreement, without renegotiating shares. This is one of the advantages of holding shares in a larger licence covering not just a single field but an entire area.
Gas from Eirin, after processing at Sleipner, enters the Gassco transmission system (the Norwegian operator). From there it flows to the Nybro terminal in Denmark, whence Baltic Pipe transports it to Poland. Baltic Pipe is a 900‑km pipeline (275 km offshore, 625 km onshore in Denmark and Poland). Its maximum capacity is 10 bcm per year from Norway to Poland, but in practice – due to constraints on the Norwegian and Danish sides – actual deliverability in 2025 was about 8.3 bcm (Gaz‑System data for 2025).
In 2025, Baltic Pipe delivered 7.1 bcm of gas to Poland, of which 4.2 bcm came from Orlen’s own production and the rest from other Norwegian suppliers. The start of Eirin will increase Orlen’s volume by about 100‑120 million cubic metres per year – about 1.5‑1.8 percent of Baltic Pipe’s total flow. The scale is small, but symbolic: each new field means less dependence on imports from outside Norway.
Orlen’s strategy in Norway
Orlen entered the Norwegian shelf in 2018 by acquiring the Norwegian company INEOS E&P for $615 million (deal closed in February 2018). In 2022, Orlen made another acquisition – KUFPEC Norway from the Kuwaiti National Petroleum Company for $445 million. After these acquisitions, Orlen Upstream Norway became one of the largest foreign investors on the Norwegian shelf, with production reaching 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025 (data from Orlen’s 2025 annual report).
– Our presence in Norway is strategic and long‑term – said Ireneusz Fąfara, CEO of Orlen.
– The start of production from the Eirin field strengthens Orlen’s position in the region and confirms our determination and effectiveness in implementing investments that develop the shelf’s extraction potential.
Orlen’s strategy aims to maintain production on the Norwegian shelf at 6‑8 bcm of gas per year by 2030. To achieve this, it needs to bring new fields like Eirin on stream to offset natural decline from older fields (e.g., the Skarv field, where Orlen has a 10 percent stake, has seen output fall by 8 percent per year since 2020). In 2026, Orlen plans to start two more fields – Tyrving (together with Equinor) and Fenja (with Neptune Energy). Their total resources are about 35 million barrels of oil equivalent, part of which will go to Orlen.
Fot. Orlen.
