Moscow: The Polish government yesterday tried to get Russian gas monopoly Gazprom to accept changes to a long-term supply contract that the European Union says are needed to align the deal with its laws.

Poland reached a preliminary agreement with Gazprom in January, though the contract wasn't signed after the European Commission said it was assessing the compatibility of the deal with EU law, including issues related to the pipeline's management, access to third parties and tariffs.

The new deal will increase annual deliveries of natural gas to Poland to as much as 10.2 billion cubic metres from about 7.4 billion to cover a supply gap after one of the country's transit sources halted last year. The EU said on Friday it saw a risk of shortages in the next three months as purchases from Russia under the current contract, the nation's own production, imports from other sources and gas in storage were probably enough to satisfy demand only until mid-October.

"The contract is in line with Poland's interests and what needs to be improved from the point of view of the European Union will be improved," Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Polish Radio on Friday. "I'm calm about the outcome of the matter."

No comment

Russia's Energy Ministry declined to comment ahead of the talks, which will be held in Moscow.

Poland has been seeking additional gas supplies since early last year, when trader RosUkrEnergo AG, 50 per cent-owned by Gazprom, halted deliveries following a dispute between Russia and Ukraine. Under a contract that ran out on December 31, Ros-UkrEnergo was supposed to deliver 2.3 billion cubic metres of gas to Poland in 2009.

The new deal secures supplies from the Yamal pipeline and extends the previous contract by 15 years to 2037. Gazprom will keep using Yamal, which runs across Poland to Germany, through 2045, according to the agreement.

"What we would like to see in general is that every company has equal access to pipelines and pays the same tariffs," said Marlene Holzner, Brussels-based EU energy spokeswoman.

Competition

"It's important for competition and consumers as a guarantee that new companies can go to the market."

The commission, whose delegation will provide legal advice during the talks, was "confident" that the parties will find a solution that is satisfactory for all participants, she said.

"It is indeed a very delicate and complex issue" linked to the implementation of the EU energy market liberalization package, Elena Dirizhina at Gazprom's department for Foreign Economic Issues said during a conference call on September 2. "So we're seriously looking into the issues of how our interests could best be protected."

The contract would help Poland, which gets about two-thirds of its gas from Russia, to avoid supply reductions similar to that faced by its chemical and oil refining industries earlier this year when temperatures fell.

Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA, Poland's dominant gas company, forecast in March that its sales could be 14.3 billion cubic metres to 14.5 billion cubic metres in 2010.