Poland Initiates New Price Talks with Gazprom

Polish state incumbent PGNiG has launched a second gas contract price dispute with Russian exporter Gazprom, it said November 1. This is distinct from the existing re-opener dispute that it launched three years earlier with respect to the same contract, it said.

Under the terms of the long-term contract signed in September 1996, the two can meet every three years to consider the relevance of the price to the prevailing market conditions and if they fail to reach agreement they may go to arbitration for an independent opinion. 

The existing price re-opener dispute at the Stockholm arbitration court has taken longer to resolve than expected, PGNiG said, owing to the ill-health of the arbitrator that was appointed by the Russian side, but it expects a decision on that in the next few months. 

William Powell