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Poland signed an agreement on Monday with Qatar, holder of the biggest gas reserves in the world after Iran and Russia, to receive one million tons of LNG annually from 2014.
The agreement, signed in Doha, where the 15-member Gas Exporting Countries Forum will meet Tuesday, was seen as a way of lessening Poland's reliance on , which earlier this year cut supplies to its European customers after a dispute with Ukraine.
Poland, which gets most of its gas from Russia, has opposed plans by Gazprom to build Nord Stream, a pipeline bypassing it and going directly to Germany, saying that the route would allow Russia to exert pressure by giving it the option to turn off supplies without cutting deliveries further west.
"This would improve the bargaining position of Poland," said Mikhail Korchemkin, executive director of East European Gas Analysis. "I do not believe Gazprom anticipated it when they set up the Gas OPEC."
About two-thirds of Poland's gas comes from the former Soviet Union, making it vulnerable to supply cuts.
"Russia will lose the gas grip over Poland," Korchemkim said. "In the long run, Gazprom would benefit too. The Russian behemoth has forgotten how the real market operates under the tough competition between gas producers."
Poland Signs Deal for Gas From Qatar
30 June 2009
Bloomberg
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