Geographical location of Poland in relation to the location of the world's largest natural gas deposits causes that, the key to optimizing national gas safety policy lies in conducting reasonable exploitation of domestic reserves and developing the natural gas infrastructure. The milestones are the interconnections and the LNG terminal. After the political transformation the government in its strategic documents repeatedly emphasized the need to ensure Polish energy security through diversification of natural gas supplies. At that time the transmission network was adjusted to import natural gas exclusively from the East. However, for more than fifteen years the only completed project within diversification of directions of natural gas supplies was one interconnector (in Lasów) with limited capacity. Completed over the past several years projects have significantly increased the security of the natural gas supplies. The national operator has started developing the capacity of the underground gas storage facilities which are extremely important for the national gas system. What is more, currently a gradual transformation of the domestic gas market towards its liberalization can be observed, including creating, for this purpose, platforms to purchase imported natural gas and gas trading points called gas hubs. Numerous changes in the Polish gas sector in terms of diversification of gas supplies should be assessed positively. The article outlines key investments in infrastructure, including LNG terminal and highlights its importance in building full integration with the European gas market.

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Abstract. The World market of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is growing rapidly. In 2015 LNG production exceeded 333 bcm with its predicted increase up to 450 bcm in 2019. The analysis of LNG role in natural gas import to the EU in recent years shows variability: LNG share in overall import reached 25% in 2011 and it went down to 15% in 2014. The smaller demand for natural gas including LNG in the EU can be due to, among others, a slower economic growth and a dynamic development of the use of renewable energy sources. The article shows the role of natural gas in the structure of consumption of primary energy as well as the changes in demand for natural gas in the years 2007-2014 for the main groups of end users: industry, energy production and individual households. The biggest fall in demand for natural gas has been observed in energy production sector in recent years. This publication continues to analyse the structure of natural gas supplies to the EU, with special emphasis on the directions of LNG import to the countries such as: The UK, Spain, France, Greece, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, Lithuania and The Netherlands. The significance of LNG in the balance of consumption of natural gas in these countries has been presented as well as the infrastructure connected with LNG and plans of development of regasification terminals. In the summary the most important conclusions have been drawn and a chance of the increase in significance of the role of LNG in the balance of natural gas supplies has been pointed out, which is due to the steep fall of LNG prices which has taken place in recent years.

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Over the last decade, developments could be observed in the structure of primary energy consumption in EU countries. In order to achieve the goals, energy carriers with minimum impact on the natural environment are used, and natural gas is considered to be such a fuel. The share of natural gas in the EU’s energy balance in the analysed period, from 2000 to 2016, remained at a relatively stable level. However, in the case of individual countries, its share in the energy balance depends on specific characteristics of a country. Regardless of the share of natural gas in the energy consumption structure of individual countries, they strive to diversify the supply of natural gas. One of the main constituents of natural gas supply diversification is the construction of LNG import terminals. Access to this infrastructure enhances energy security and offers better opportunities when negotiating long-term contracts for the supply of natural gas. The EU possesses significant possibilities of importing natural gas through LNG terminals, but until now they have been used to a limited extent, it may indicate that in addition todiversification tasks, terminals are a guarantee in the event ofinterruptions in gas supplies using gas pipelines.