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Last Updated: Jun 30, 2009 - 8:33:24 AM |
Poland signed an agreement on Monday with Qatar, holder of the biggest
gas reserves in the world after Iran and Russia, to receive one million
tons of LNG annually from 2014.
The agreement, signed in Doha, where the 15-member Gas Exporting
Countries Forum will meet Tuesday, was seen as a way of lessening
Poland's reliance on Gazprom, which earlier this year cut supplies to
its European customers after a dispute with Ukraine.
Poland, which gets most of its gas from Russia, has opposed plans by
Gazprom to build Nord Stream, a pipeline bypassing it and going
directly to Germany, saying that the route would allow Russia to exert
pressure by giving it the option to turn off supplies without cutting
deliveries further west.
"This would improve the bargaining position of Poland," said Mikhail
Korchemkin, executive director of East European Gas Analysis. "I do not
believe Gazprom anticipated it when they set up the Gas OPEC."
About two-thirds of Poland's gas comes from the former Soviet Union,
making it vulnerable to supply cuts.
"Russia will lose the gas grip over Poland," Korchemkim said. "In the
long run, Gazprom would benefit too. The Russian behemoth has forgotten
how the real market operates under the tough competition between gas
producers."
Source:Ocnus.net 2009
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