BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

07/01/2009

Poland is well-supplied with gas thanks to Yamal pipeline through Belarus

Warsaw, January 7 (Interfax Central Europe) - Poland may remain fully supplied with natural gas until March in the optimistic scenario or until early February in the pessimistic scenario, using Russian gas deliveries from the Yamal-Europe pipeline running through Belarus, as well as gas in storage facilities, said Joanna Zakrzewska, spokeswoman for Polish gas monopolist PGNiG.

"At this point all our customers are supplied and we'll see how the situation develops," Zakrzewska told reporters Wednesday. "We don't know how long this situation will last and we need to be prepared for all options so that our customers are impacted as little as possible."

"It will last for several weeks," she added referring to gas currently available through imports and from storage. "Everything depends on the weather. The optimistic scenario is that we will last until March, assuming the temperatures are at around zero [Celsius]. But at this point we have very cold conditions."

Russia's Gazprom cut gas supplies to Ukraine last Thursday morning after negotiations of a new contract with Ukraine for 2009 failed to produce a result. Following the cut, deliveries to the European Union countries neighboring Ukraine dropped as well.

Poland currently receives 84% of the planned natural gas deliveries from the eastern direction after the complete halt of gas deliveries through Ukraine, with Poland getting gas from Russia from the Yamal-Europe pipeline through Belarus.

Poland's gas storage facilities are currently filled in 80%. The maximum capacity of Polish gas storage facilities is at 1.6 billion cubic meters.

Temperatures across Central and Northern Europe remain much under the freezing point, with -30 degrees Celsius reported on Tuesday night in southwestern Poland.

Zakrzewska said that during the winter season Poland consumes 45 million cubic meters a day if temperatures are at around the freezing point, while harsh weather of the kind seen over the past few days in Poland boosts gas consumption by 10 million to 55 million per day.

Source:

http://www.kyivpost.com/world/32804

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