Burning bright

State-controlled gas group PGNiG reported a third-quarter net profit of zł.130 million, a rise of 83 percent on the same period last year, beating market expectations. Revenues rose 17 percent to zł.2.77 billion, while operational profit jumped 34 percent to zł.143 million.

The group benefited from three rises in regulated gas tariffs during the past year. PGNiG imports over half of the approximately 13 billion cubic meters of gas consumed in Poland. The company plans to diversify supplies away from Russian sources by increasing domestic production, building a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Baltic coast and investing in the construction of a new gas pipeline from Iran. Last month company officials visited Kazakhstan, reportedly to secure a deal on the exploration of gas deposits.

PGNiG's current contract for the supply of Central Asian gas from Russia's Rosukrenergo, which supplies Poland with around a fifth of its gas, expires at the end of this year. The companies are now hammering out a new agreement, for which Rosukrenergo is reportedly demanding much higher prices.

PGNiG was partially privatized last year, and this year its shares have lost around 10 percent of their value due to worries over the rising prices of imported gas and political interference. (Reuters)