Reuters: Poland's Gaz-System to sign gas storage deal with Austria's RAG

Poland's natural gas network operator Gaz-System will sign an agreement with Austria's RAG to explore opportunities to build underground gas storage facilities, Gaz-System Chief Executive Jan Chadam said on Tuesday.

Boosting storage capacity in Poland is key for the European Union nation as it seeks to strengthen its energy security and diversify supplies away from Russia's Gazprom, which delivers the bulk of Poland's gas.

Wholesale gas monopoly PGNiG now controls the Polish storage market with facilities amounting to around 1.6 billion cubic metres (bcm), far less than the 14 bcm the country consumes annually, Chadam said.

The target for the new storage facilities, which would be located in old salt caverns and abandoned mines in the central and southern part of the country, would be about 5 bcm, he added.  MORE