A significant oil and gas field was recently found in the southwestern part of the Baltic Sea, near Poland's northwestern coast. The Canadian energy company Central European Petroleum's initial estimates suggest the site contains 22 million tons of crude oil and five billion cubic meters of natural gas.

Poland's Ministry of Climate believes the reserves may be even larger, at an estimated 33 million tons of oil and 27 billion cubic meters of gas. This could be one of the largest oil discoveries in Europe in the past decade.

Geologist Kalle-Mart Suuroja said on Vikerraadio's "Uudis+" program that the find was not entirely surprising. Other deposits exist in the eastern part of the region. However, the specific location in western Poland makes this discovery noteworthy.

Location surprising

"The southern Baltic Sea – especially the Gulf of Gdańsk, Lithuania, the Kaliningrad region, and eastern Poland — has long been known as an oil-producing area. Oil platforms still operate there today. But the new discovery is much farther west, in the Pomeranian Sea near the Wolin area, and that is indeed surprising, because all previously known deposits have been several hundred kilometers to the east," Suuroja explained.

The new site was discovered by drilling in water just ten meters deep, with the well reaching a vertical depth of 2,700 meters. Suuroja said this points to a complex geological structure.

"A northwest–southeast fault cuts through the Earth's crust in that area, creating suitable structures for oil and gas to accumulate. The oil and gas layers are located at a depth of around two kilometers, but they may be only a few dozen meters thick," the geologist added.

Oil and gas have also been found elsewhere in the Baltic Sea, such as onshore in the Kaliningrad region and off Poland's eastern coast. Lithuania drills its reserves on land, while Latvia, according to Suuroja, has not been as fortunate.

"The poor Latvians didn't get any. They do have layers with a different geological composition, but no industrially usable deposits," he said.

When asked whether oil and gas from the Baltic Sea differs in quality from that in the North Sea, Suuroja replied that it does not, for the most part. "Quality depends more on how the oil was formed, and the origin story here is quite similar," he said.

The Baltic Sea's technical conditions are also more favorable for building platforms. "In the North Sea, depths exceed a kilometer, while here they're often limited to about ten meters. That makes building platforms easier," he said.

No big accidents in Baltic Sea – so far

On the environmental impact of oil platforms, Suuroja noted that there have been no major accidents in the Baltic Sea so far.

"Maybe a drop or two has gotten into the sea, but there have not been any large-scale incidents," he said.

However, the new discovery is near Wolin National Park, which could bring environmental concerns to the forefront.

Speaking about the possibility of finding oil in the central or northern parts of the Baltic Sea, Suuroja was skeptical.

"Small-scale oil production took place on Gotland Island in the 1980s. That was essentially cottage industry production, oily water was pumped from the ground and the oil was left to separate. Oil signs have also been studied on Hiiumaa, but no industrial potential has been found," the geologist said.

Suuroja also recalled the so-called Hiiumaa oil scheme of the 1920s, in which a Russian émigré claimed he could produce oil at the Vaemla manor.

"It was actually a bluff. We even studied it scientifically in the 1990s, and the drilling results showed it was the most oil-poor location on Hiiumaa," the researcher recalled.

According to Suuroja, more reserves may still be found in the southern Baltic, especially along the Polish coast.

"These reserves are not yet well defined. Drilling is done in selected promising areas. But farther north, hopes should be tempered, as the necessary geological conditions for larger oil and gas fields are lacking there," he said.

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