Statoil suggests BalticPipe gas deal may depend on finding more customers

By the end of next year Statoil may approve the contract for supplying 5 billion cubic meters of Norwegian gas annually to Poland. However, according to Thor Otto Lohne, Statoil deputy chairman for gas, Europe, agreement is conditional on the company finding a customer for an additional 3 billion cubic meters of gas. Statoil needs financial security, since it is committed to spending between euro 1.3 billion and euro 1.5 billion on the construction of the BalticPipe, along which the gas will be conveyed from Norway to Poland. Rzeczpospolita reports that Statoil is confident of finding additional customers for its gas, with 1.5 billion cubic meters possibly being supplied to southern Norway, 2 billion cubic meters to the west coast of Sweden and Stockholm, and 1 billion cubic meters to Denmark. At the beginning of September Polish Oil and Gas (PGNiG) signed a contract with several Norwegian companies, including Statoil, for the supply of 74 billion cubic meters of natural gas over 16 years. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B4) M.T.