WARSAW, April 6 (RIA Novosti) – Warsaw will reply to Russia’s proposal to build a gas pipeline via the Polish territory within the next few months, after studying the issue closely, Polish deputy premier and economics minister Janusz Piechocinski said.
Upon his arrival from St. Petersburg, where he met with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, Piechocinski said that the Russian side would provide more information about economic and technical aspects of the project within six months.
“If the Russian side puts forward any proposal to speed up this initiative… then we will respond to it,” he added, commenting on the results of his meeting with Miller.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered energy giant Gazprom on Wednesday to return to the plan to build a second section of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline. Miller said the pipeline, to run via Belarus with a capacity of 15 billion cubic meters, could be put into operation in 2018-2019.
On Friday, Gazprom announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with EuRoPol Gaz on the construction of the proposed pipeline.
Polish Treasury Minister Mikolaj Budzanowski voiced his skepticism about the project on Wedensday, saying the country was diversifying its gas imports and did not need additional gas supplies from Russia.