02-09-2010 16:31:18

European Commission to probe Russia-Poland gas deal

BRUSSELS – The European Commission will study a Russian-Polish gas deal to make sure it complies with European Union legislation, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday following a meeting with Poland's President Bronislaw Komorowski.

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday that an agreement to supply gas via the Yamal-Europe pipeline would be signed in the next 10-12 days after consultations with the European Commission.

Tusk said the consultations would only concern EuRoPol Gaz, the operator and owner of the Polish part of the Yamal-Europe pipeline which carries gas from Russia's Yamal peninsula to Europe.

Under the new Russian-Polish agreement, two state monopolies, Russia's Gazprom and Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA, or PGNiG, will finish upgrading EuRoPol Gaz and will each get a 50 percent stake in it.

Gazprom and PGNiG now hold 48 percent each in EuRoPol Gaz, with the remaining four percent belong to Gas-Trading S.A., in which more than 80 percent of shares belong to Polish companies.

The Polish side, which has slightly more votes in EuRoPol Gaz, wanted to increase the transit price, which Gazprom opposed. The companies hope that the new agreement will put an end to the dispute.

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