Norway gas deal to be concluded early next year, deliveries to start in 2006

At the beginning of next year Poland will sign a final agreement with Norway for the delivery of up to 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. The deal would call for the construction of a new pipeline under the Baltic Sea. The pipeline would be completed in 2006 and this is when deliveries would start. At the moment Poland imports only 200 million cubic meters of gas per year, using German pipelines. In July the prime ministers of the two countries signed a declaration on increasing Norwegian gas imports to Poland. However, until recently Norway has been hesitant about constructing the pipeline, claiming that Poland's gas demands might be too low to make the pipeline profitable. Now they have eased their stance, possibly in view of Russian Gazprom's plans to build new pipelines in Eastern Europe. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p.1)