Poland complains of overpaying billions for Russian gas
For several years, the Polish state-controlled oil and gas company PGNiG (Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo) has overpaid Russia’s Gazprom at least €230 million per year, PGNiG CEO Piotr Woźniak told TVP Info in an interview. He said that since 2014 at least, PGNiG has paid roughly one billion zloty (about €233 million) too much for Russian gas – the different between Gazprom’s prices and market prices.
Woźniak hopes that the Stockholm Arbitration Institute, which PGNiG has already appealed to regarding Gazprom’s excessive prices, will rule in favor of Warsaw by the end of 2019 or the start of 2020 and lower the price.
The CEO pointed out that PGNiG has already informed Gazprom that it does not intend to extend the gas transit contract, which expires at the end of 2022.
The Polish oil and gas company announced previously that it has been taking radical steps to diversify its supply. In particular, it has signed long-term Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) supply contracts, and is purchasing gas fields on the Norwegian continental shelf. In October 2018, the company announced that it had signed a contract to purchase LNG from the USA.