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Poland breaks intergovernmental agreement with Russia on gas supplies, says official

The so-called Yamal agreements were signed in 1993

WARSAW, May 23. /TASS/. Poland’s authorities have decided to break an intergovernmental agreement with Russia on gas supplies to the republic signed in 1993, Polish Government Plenipotentiary for Strategic Energy Infrastructure Piotr Naimski said in an interview broadcast by the Polish radio on Monday.

"On May 13, the government of Mateusz Morawicki passed a resolution on breaking an agreement between the government of Poland and the government of the Russian Federation," he said, noting that the issue is about the so-called Yamal agreements, "which were signed in 1993." "After 30 years it is safe to state that the relations in the gas sector between Poland and Russia no longer exist," Naimski added.

Asked about the future of the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline, the energy official said that the section is owned by EuRoPol GAZ company, a joint venture of Gazprom and the Polish PGNiG, while the operator of this section is a company, which is the operator of the Polish chain of gas pipelines Gaz-System. Poland’s section of the Yamal gas pipeline will be used for transporting gas through Polish territory, Naimski said, adding that it may also deliver gas from Germany to Poland.

The agreement on the creation of a system of gas pipelines for transit of Russian gas via Poland’s territory and supply of Russian gas to the republic dated August 25, 1993, was last updated by the sides in 2010. Back then a deed of amendment and a protocol on amendments to additional protocol to agreement signed on February 12, 2003, were inked in Warsaw. The documents stipulated a gradual increase in the volumes of Russian gas supplies to Poland from 9.7 bln cubic meters in 2010 to 11 bln cubic meters in 2012 and onwards. Moreover, the joint company EuRoPol GAZ delegated the functions of technical operator of the section of the gas pipeline running through Polish soil to Poland’s state company Gaz-System.

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