Polish, Russian companies reach agreement on long-term gas supplies

The Polish Oil and Gas Mining (PGNiG) and Russia's Gazprom agreed on cooperation in gas supplies to Poland, PGNiG said in a statement on Friday.

"The sides agreed to increase supplies and prolong the existing contract till 2037. Besides, a compromise on managing Europol Gaz company and its rate policy has been found," PGNiG said in the statement.

EuRoPol Gaz is a Polish-Russian company exploiting the Polish stretch of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline via which Russian gas is delivered to the west, to Poland and Germany.

"At the business level, I positively assess the agreement. It still has to be presented to the team for energy security and later to the Council of Ministers," Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Waldemar Pawlak told Polish news agency PAP.

It took a week for PGNiG and Gazprom to reach an agreement in Moscow on additional supplies of gas to Poland as of 2010 in connection with the expiration of the contract with Russian-Ukrainian RosUkrEnergo (RUE) that delivered to Poland 2.3 billion cubic meters of gas annually.

Long-term increased supplies are regulated by an annex to the 1993 Polish-Russian inter-governmental agreement and a Yamal contract between PGNiG and Gazprom. Under the agreement Poland receives some 7 billion cubic meters of Russian gas annually.

Source: Xinhua