In late December 2019, ShaleTech Energy Sp. z o.o. was granted the 9/2019/L Wejherowo contract in northern Poland. ShaleTech Energy is the sole operator of the contract.  The 710 sq km Wejherowo area under application is located in the Pomorskie political province, 30 km northwest of the city of Gdansk and is partly covering the countryâs grid block 29. In a geological sense, the area is situated in the western sector of the Gdansk Depression, tectonic unit of the Baltic Syneclise.  The targets of exploration are conventional (Lower Palaeozoic â Cambrian petroleum play, with the source rocks in the Cambrian mudstone-claystone strata, Ordovician and Lowermost Silurian organic-rich mudstones and claystone series and the reservoirs in the Lower and Middle Cambrian sandstone series (quartzites)), and unconventional (Cambrian/Ordovician/Silurian - Ordovician/Silurian petroleum play, with the source rocks in the Upper Cambrian, Ordovician and Lowermost Silurian organic-rich mudstones and claystone series and the reservoirs within the Upper Cambrian, Ordovician and Lowermost Silurian organic-rich mudstones and claystone series).  The Wejherowo block was offered from the countryâs 2018 tender call (Round 3 Part II) that ended on 12 April 2019. ShaleTech was the sole applicant for the area.  ShaleTech Energy is the local subsidiary of STENA Investments S.a.r.l. (itself part of Stena AB, a transport service company, known also as one of the world's most prominent independent drilling rig operators).  Â Background Information  On 29 June 2017, the MoE published the list of 17 blocks for tendering in 2018 (Round 3). The tender catalogue included the areas in the countryâs various geological provinces and the full list was as follows: Blazowa (270 sq km), Braniewo-Milakowo (788 sq km), Bytow (784 sq km), Chelmno (248 sq km), Chodziez (1,172 sq km), Konin (1,034 sq km), Krolowka (201 sq km), Leszno (1,008 sq km), Orle (423 sq km), Pila (949 sq km), Proszowice W (1,104 sq km), Rudnik-Lipiny (480 sq km), Ryki (1,048 sq km), Sierpowo (669 sq km), Wejherowo (710 sq km), Wetlina (221 sq km) and Zabowo (1,000 sq km). In end-2017, two of the areas included in the initial listing - Krolowka (201 sq km), and Zabowo (1,000 sq km) â were removed from the offering, leaving 15 areas for licensing.  News from May 2018 suggested that the MoE was planning to release all already-announced blocks following the closure of the Round 2 (conducted during early May-early August 2018, offering eight blocks). It was understood in early October that the MoE submitted for publishing in the EUOJ tender documents for eight areas earmarked for licensing for prospection, exploration and exploitation.  On 12 December 2018, the tender documents for eight areas - Braniewo-Milakowo, Bytow, Chelmno, Chodziez, Orle, Pila, Sierpowo and Wejherowo, all in the northern part of the country - were published in the EU Official Journal (EUOJ) marking the onset of the bidding procedure (Round 3). Interested parties had 121 days, commencing on the day following the date of publication, to submit their offer(s). On 12 April 2019, the MoE closed the tender call.
Stena subsidiary ShaleTech Energy has been awarded 9/2019/L Wejherowo block.