Poland promises take Ukraine’s interests into account

The Polish government will take into account the interests of Ukraine in gas projects with the Russian Federation, Polish Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Economy Janusz Piechocinski announced this at a Ukrainian-Polish gas conference in Warsaw on Thursday

"One of the main questions, which we set, evaluating this project, is how it will influence the energy system of Central and Eastern Europe, including Ukraine," he noted, commenting on the recent offer of the Russians to return to the Yamal-2 gas pipeline project.

Piechocinski said that the Polish government has not taken any decision on the construction of a new pipeline through Poland with "Gazprom".

Vice Prime Minister noted that current capacity of existing pipelines, which deliver Russian gas to Europe, is significantly higher than the actual amount of Russian supply
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According to him, the first line of the Yamal gas pipeline, Nord Stream and the Ukrainian gas transportation system can deliver to Europe about 245 billion cubic meters of gas, while the "Gazprom" in the past year sold only 138 billion cubic meters to Europeans.

"In the case of implementation of the Russian South Stream project and the said pipeline (throufg Poland), capacities will increase to 365 billion cubic meters," he said.

Vice Prime Minister pointed out that not only Poland, but also other countries of the European Union, implement a number of projects, designed to look for alternative sources of supply.

He also said that efforts to diversify energy supply are not connected only with the politics, but also with the need to take care of the security of supply, noting that problems can arise due to technical problems or even a terrorist threat.

Piechocinski added that Poland cannot ignore the interests of its immediate neighbors, noting that last year the country imported via Ukraine 3.8 billion cubic meters of gas, or 25% of total consumption.