Polish gas firm PGNiG SA will restart arbitration
proceedings against Russia's OAO Gazprom if it isn't included in the group of
European companies that are supposed to get lower prices of Russian natural
gas, said Poland's Treasury Minister Mikolaj Budzanowski.
"If we don't immediately get the discount, we'll intervene and again file
an arbitration law suit," Mr. Budzanowski told reporters Thursday. "But
I don't think it will come to this. Since 2004, we've been in the European
Union and since forever in Europe."
Reuters reported Wednesday that, pressured by customers, Gazprom was likely to cut long-term contract prices
to Europe next year. Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, in an article Thursday,
interpreted this as a cut intended for countries in the west of Europe, not the
bloc's post-communist east.
Gazprom in November bowed to pressure from PGNiG to
cut the price of its natural-gas deliveries by more than 15% after the Polish
company launched arbitration proceedings in Stockholm. Unable to import
significant volumes of gas from elsewhere, Poland had complained about paying
what it saw as excessive prices for Russian gas. Gazprom supplies Poland with about two thirds of the
gas the country uses.