Palomar and San Leon expect first Polish gas sales in 2016

WARSAW, March 6 (Reuters) - U.S. oil and gas company Palomar Natural Resources and London-listed gas explorer San Leon expect the first commercial gas flows and sales from their Rawicz gas well in western Poland at the beginning of 2016.

San Leon has previously said that the Rawicz well is likely to produce commercial ammounts of conventional gas but the company and its U.S. partner said on Friday that the well's flows could help Poland to limit its dependance on expensive foreign supplies.

Palomar is the operator of seven exploration concessions in Poland and owns 65 percent in the Rawicz venture, with the rest controlled by San Leon.

"Full field development and first gas sales are expected by early 2016," the companies said in Friday's statement.

The Rawicz well began flow testing on Feb. 5 and has to date flowed at an average rate of up to 4.5 million standard cubic feet per day.

Poland consumes around 16 billion cubic metres of gas a year, more than half of which is imported from Russia's Gazprom . Domestic output at Poland's gas distributor PGNiG exceeds 4 billion cubic metres.

San Leon is also one of the few foreign investors still looking for shale gas in Poland. Hopes for commercial shale gas production dimmed after Chevron (Swiss: CVX.SW - news) became the latest energy major to quit Poland. (Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko; Editing by David Goodman)