WORLD
Statoil says has no plans to invest in gas pipeline to Poland
Baku, January 30, AZERTAC
Norway's Statoil will not invest in a gas pipeline to Poland, the company said, setting back plans by Polish gas company PGNiG to reduce its dependence on supplies from Russia, according to Reuters.
PGNiG had said on Thursday it wanted to build a pipeline between Poland and Norway by 2022, when its current deal to buy gas from Russia's Gazprom expires.
"Statoil will not invest in this infrastructure," Elin A. Isaksen, a spokeswoman for Statoil, said in an email to Reuters.
"However, we regard Poland as an interesting market and will look into using such infrastructure should it be realized and given that it is commercially attractive."
Norway is the European Union's second biggest gas supplier after Russia, and Statoil is responsible for 70 percent of oil and gas output from the Norwegian continental shelf.
Statoil's comments came a day after the operator of Norway's offshore gas pipeline system, Gassco, said it had no plans to build new pipelines to continental Europe.
"We have had dialogue with several parties regarding Norwegian gas infrastructure, and PGNiG is one of them, but Gassco has no expansion plans to the European continent currently," Gassco spokeswoman Lisbet Kallevik said.