Russian-Polish documents on cooperation in gas sector signed

In particular, an Addendum to the Russian gas supply contract was signed providing for an opportunity to increase gas exports to Poland up to 11 billion cubic meters a year in line with the Polish market demand.
Shortly before that Igor Sechin, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Waldemar Pawlak, Poland’s Economy Minister and Vice Premier had signed inter-governmental Russian-Polish protocols stipulating the amendments in the inter-governmental agreement on the Russian gas supply and transit dated August 25, 1993 and in the supplementary protocol to the said agreement dated February 12, 2003.
Signing of inter-governmental and inter-corporate documents sets the required international legal basis for further development of Russian-Polish cooperation in the gas sector allowing to settle the whole set of open bilateral issues including those concerning the tariff-making mechanism applied to the Russian transit gas, principles of a Russian-Polish EuRoPol GAZ JV operation and others.
“The signed documents mark the completion of an extended negotiating period and open up wide prospects for cooperation with the Polish partners,” stated Alexander Medvedev. “This interaction will also be forwarded through Poland’s intent to utilize natural gas, the most clean hydrocarbon fuel, in a more proactive way.
Gazprom Group is a reliable supplier. We always meet our obligations and are eager to respond to supplementary requests from our customers as it was with Poland in 2009 and 2010,” he stressed.
Poland’s annual gas consumption is about 13.7 billion cubic meters with around 30 per cent produced domestically.
In 2009 Gazprom supplied Poland with 9 billion cubic meters of Russian gas.
PGNiG is Poland’s largest petroleum company dealing with oil and gas field development, energy production, storage and transportation, oil and gas transmission network construction and expansion, as well as with natural gas exports and imports.
Joint-Stock Company EuRoPol GAZ Transit Gas Pipeline System was founded in September 1993. The company was created within the Intergovernmental Agreement on the construction of a gas pipeline system for the Russian gas transit through Poland and Russian gas deliveries to Poland, dated August 25, 1993. Among the basic activity fields of EuRoPol GAZ are engineering, construction and operation of the Polish section of the Yamal – Europe gas pipeline.
EuRoPol GAZ owns the 684-kilometer-long Polish section of the Yamal – Europe gas pipeline and five compressor stations. The annual throughput capacity of the pipeline is close to 30 billion cubic meters, provided that five compressor stations are operated simultaneously.
Gazprom and PGNiG are the key shareholders of EuRoPol GAZ.
The contracts for Russian gas supply to Poland and for gas transit across Poland are effective until 2022 and 2019 respectively.