Norway, Western Europe’s biggest oil and gas producer, is expected to share in the huge profits it has made from oil and gas exports since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Reuters said at the weekend. end Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
“They should share those excess profits. It’s not normal, it’s unfair. This is an indirect attack on the war started by Putin,” Morawiecki said in a meeting with a youth group on Sunday, as quoted by Bloomberg.
“But should we pay Norway a colossal sum for gas – four or five times more than a year ago? That’s sick,” Morawiecki said.
“Write to your young friends in Norway… They should share it, not necessarily with Poland [but] for Ukraine, for those most affected by this war. Isn’t that normal?” added the Polish Prime Minister, reports Notes from Poland.
Poland plans to start receiving natural gas from Norway through the Baltic Pipe project, which is expected to be fully commissioned in early 2023 and diversify Poland’s gas supply.
Meanwhile, Poland’s Climate and Environment Minister, Anna Moskwa, mentioned Poland ended a deal to receive Russian gas via the Yamal-Europe pipeline on Monday, nearly a month after Russia halted deliveries to Poland after the EU member refused to pay in rubles for gas.
“Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has confirmed the correctness of the Polish government’s determination to become completely independent of Russian gas,” tweeted the Polish minister, adding that “we have always known that Gazprom is not a reliable partner”.
At the end of April, Gazprom cut off deliveries of Russian gas to Poland – as well as Bulgaria – saying the supply was stopped “due to the lack of ruble payments”.
Poland had an agreement with Gazprom expiring at the end of 2022.
Poland has always maintained that Europe should reduce its dependence on Russian gas because Moscow is weaponizing energy to gain influence in the EU. Poland itself has been trying for years to get rid of its dependence on Russian gas, as it has always seen Russian energy policy as a threat to energy security.
Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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