PGNiG and Ukrainian NAK to form joint venture

The enterprise is designed to ease the functioning of the Polish and Ukrainian natural gas systems, which represent a system of interconnected cells. "In mid 2005, or at latest in Q3, we plant to set up an operator company," said Marek Kossowski, president of PGNiG. In a month the Polish firm should receive a draft contract concerning the lease of free storage space of Ukrainian partner. "Initially we will store a maximum 150 million cubic meters of natural gas. However, the amount should increase over the longer perspective," claims Kossowski. It is not a secret that the development of Polish-Ukrainian cooperation on the natural gas market is dependent on the permission of Russian Gazprom. (Puls Biznesu, p. 13) M.M.