What goes on in Poland on the 28th of March.
Poland’s Ambassador in Russia: Poland will abandon its dependence, gas not necessarily from Gazprom
Poland does not want to be dependent on Russian gas supplies and wants to diversify sources of raw material supplies – said Ambassador of Poland to Russia Włodzimierz Marciniak in an interview with TASS agency.
– We strive to diversify the sources of gas supply. We also mine it ourselves. Currently, we import a significant part of the raw material from Russia, but the direction of the diversification policy is publicly known – he said. – We want to buy gas from Norway, which will be supplied by the Baltic Sea. This is one of our directions. The second is LNG import, which can be purchased from various suppliers – he added.
– We have the opportunity to acquire such LNG volumes that are enough to secure Poland and the region – said the Polish diplomat. According to Marciniak, „it is not about giving up gas from Russia, but about not being dependent on it”. He pointed out that Poland intends to build a gas pipeline from Norway, and if the LNG prices from the USA are too high, his country will buy fuel from other suppliers.
The import of raw material to Poland is mainly based on the so-called the Yamal contract, signed in 1996, and revised in 2010. It expires in 2022, the time when, according to the plan, the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline with a capacity of 10 billion cubic meters is to be commissioned and the extension of the gas terminal to 7,5 billion cubic meters annually will be completed.
Then, in theory, Poland could give up the purchase of fuel from Gazprom.
However, Warsaw does not deny the possibility of further import of Russian gas and cooperation with Gazprom. According to the declaration of its officials, it is possible, but not based on the current assumptions of the long-term contract. The Russian monopolist must offer clear, transparent conditions. Data provided by PGNiG show that the dependence on Russian imports compared to 2015 decreased from 87 to 70 percent in 2017.
Czaputowicz: Hard times are coming for Nord Stream 2
One can see the revaluation in foreign policy due to the case of Sergey Skripal; it will be harder to convince Nord Stream 2 supporters that this is only a business project and persuade to implement it – said the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jacek Czaputowicz on Monday.
Czaputowicz was questioned on TV Republika, or apart from the European unity demonstration on Skipal towards Russia, „real, real” decisions may be made, eg concerning the impediments to the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project. – I do not know if it will be blocked. But more and more countries see what a difficult partner or opponent in some sense is Russia – said the Foreign Minister.
As he said, „here you can see the reassessment in foreign policy”. – It will be more difficult to convince Nord Stream 2 supporters that this is a business-only project and persuade to implement it. I think that this will certainly make it difficult for Russia to influence the political scenes in particular Western countries – said Mr Czaputowicz. In this context, he also pointed out information on Russia’s interference in the elections and pursuing its own interests, including economic ones. – We hope that many countries will set a question mark as to whether these trade relations with Russia is a good idea – emphasized the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.