Russia agrees to increase export of gas to Poland

Poland and Russia have signed a long-delayed deal that will increase imports of gas from Russia. The signing comes after the European Union intervened to guarantee other countries access to the pipeline.

The deal was signed Friday in Warsaw by Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and his Polish counterpart Waldemar Pawlak.

Under the deal, Poland's annual imports of Russian gas will rise from 265 billion cubic feet (7.5 billion cubic meters) to more than 318 billion cubic feet (9 billion cubic meters) from next year through 2022, The Associated Press reports.

Under the new deal Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA, Poland's dominant gas company, known as PGNiG, will be able to buy as much as 10.2 billion cubic meters a year from Russia's gas exporter OAO Gazprom. This increased the volume from 7.45 billion cubic meters in the previous contract, the Warsaw-based company said in a regulatory statement today.

PGNiG values the agreement at about 8.5 billion zloty ($2.94 billion) annually at current prices, on which the contract is based. The company may save as much as $250 million by the end of 2014 if it uses the full discount offered by Gazprom, the Polish company said, Bloomberg informs.