Poland and Russia reach gas agreement
Russia and Poland have come to an agreement on additional gas supplies, the Ministry of Economy announced in a rather laconic statement.
Last Thursday in Moscow, both parties managed to determine "the legal and technical issues" that were left unresolved after the previous round of negotiations on November 26 in Warsaw. The ministry revealed no further details.
Now both sides will initial the agreement, after which it will be passed on in the form of a resolution to the Council of Ministers. After it is passed, it will be signed by the Prime Minister.
The intergovernmental settlement will allow Polish state-owned gas giant PGNiG to sign an agreement with Russia's Gazprom. Poland needs more gas after its Ukrainian supplier stopped delivering gas at the beginning of the year, leaving a supply gap of over two billion cubic meters yearly.
Deputy Economy Minister Joanna Strzelec-Łobodzińska, who headed the Polish negotiating team, told the Radio Information Agency that negotiations were hard, but ended favorably for Poland.
It was rumored that the bone of contention was Gazprom's demand that its debts to the EuRoPol Gaz company operating the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which transports Russian gas to Germany, be remitted. Gazprom contested the company's transit fees and was paying according to its own, lower estimates. According to some calculations, the sum in question amounted to zł.300 million. Apparently the issue has been resolved, though it is unclear exactly what was agreed upon.
"I cannot confirm that the Russian side agreed to pay the amount due to EuRoPol Gaz," said deputy Treasury Minister Mikołaj Budzanowski.
"The Russians got all that they wanted - a gas monopoly in Poland and low fees for transit through our country. EuRoPol Gaz is now effectively a non-profit company," said Janusz Kowalski, a member of the Energy Security Team in the President's Chancellery.
Negotiations have been in progress since May.
Martyna Olik