Poland to offer compromise in gas deal with Russia
According to unofficial information in the daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita, the Polish government will offer compromise in negotiations concerning natural gas issues with its Russian partners. Poland may be ready to give up the idea of constructing of the second thread of the Yamal gas pipeline, of which the first thread was completed in 1999, and which ships Russian gas to Germany via Poland. Instead, Poland would agree to a new transit pipeline running near its Eastern border from Belarus to Slovakia, skipping Ukraine, which so far has been rejected by the Polish party. Poland is expecting a 10-year prolongation of the 25-year gas contract with Russia without increasing the total amount of gas to be delivered over the contracted period, which would reduce the amount of gas that Poland would be required to pay for by 2012 from the maximum of 12.5 to 9 billion cubic metres a year. According to forecasts made by the Economy Ministry, Due to the economic slowdown, Poland's gas consumption will rise to 13.7-16.2bn cubic metres in 2005, instead of the earlier expected 15.7-17.9bn cubic metres. By 2020, the demand for natural gas should grow to 17.7-22.2bn cubic metres instead of the earlier expected 26-29bn cubic metres. kp,bb
Źródło:Polski IntelliNews
