Talks on Norwegian gas deliveries could finish by end of 2006: Polish PM

Talks on building a gas pipeline running from Norway to Poland, which kicked off this week, could finish by the end of this year, Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz said on Thursday.

Marcinkiewicz made the remarks after meeting with his Norwegian counterpart Jens Stoltenberg in Iceland's Reykjavik where they attended a summit of the Baltic Sea Council, the Polish news agency PAP reported.

Both countries wanted to cooperate in the energy sector, including gas deliveries and diversification. The two governments have already given the green light for talks between companies of the two countries on gas deliveries, Marcinkiewicz said.

In early May, Norway's state-owned pipeline operator Gassco offered the Polish Mining and Gas company (PGNiG) a place in a Norway-Sweden consortium, which is to build a pipeline from Karstoe in Norway to the Swedish coast and further on to Poland.

The Polish Economy Ministry announced two days earlier that Poland and Norway had been holding talks on the gas pipeline.

Poland depends heavily on energy imports from Russia. But the east European country has recently expressed grave concerns over a pipeline from Russia to Germany being built under the Baltic Sea. Warsaw strongly opposes the pipeline because it will bypass Poland.

Source: Xinhua