Poland and Russia signed an agreement Friday to increase the delivery of Russian natural gas to Poland after objections from the European Commission delayed the deal and raised fears of gas shortages, DPA reported.
The deal will hike Russian gas deliveries to Poland to 10 billion cubic metres a year between 2012 to 2022, up by about 2 billion cubic metres from what Poland currently receives.
Polish Deputy Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak signed the deal with his Russian counterpart, Igor Sechin, in the Polish capital Warsaw after more than a year of negotiations.
The deal became necessary when a contract expired last year between Poland and the Russian-Ukrainian RosUkrEnergo.
Poland and Russia had reached an agreement last October. But Warsaw held off on finalizing the deal when the European Commission said it violated policies on markets having equal access to gas supplies.
Polish gas monopoly PGNiG and Russia's Gazprom agreed that the operator of the Polish section of the Yamal pipeline will be Polish state-owned Gaz-System and established a procedure for third-party access. That section of the pipeline had been previously owned by PGNiG and Gazprom.
PGNiG had warned last month of gas shortages for industry clients this autumn if Warsaw failed to sign the deal with Russia.