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Norway, western Europe’s largest oil and gas producer, should share the huge profits it has made from oil and gas exports since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Poland’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said this weekend.
“They should share these excess profits. It’s not normal, it’s unjust. This is an indirect preying on the war started by Putin,” Morawiecki said during a meeting with a youth group on Sunday, as quoted by Bloomberg.
“But should we be paying Norway gigantic money for gas — four or five times more than we paid a year ago? This is 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?” the Polish prime minister added, Notes from Poland reports.
Poland expects to start receiving natural gas from Norway via the Baltic Pipe Project, which is planned to be fully commissioned at the start of 2023 and diversify Poland’s gas supply.
Meanwhile, Polish Minister of Climate and Environment, Anna Moskwa, said on Monday that Poland had terminated an agreement to receive Russian gas via the Yamal-Europe pipeline, nearly a month after Russia stopped deliveries to Poland after the EU member refused to pay in rubles for gas.
“Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has confirmed the accuracy of the Polish government’s determination to become completely independent from Russian gas,” the Polish minister tweeted, adding that “We always knew that Gazprom was not a reliable partner.”
In late April, Gazprom cut off Russian gas deliveries to Poland – as well as to Bulgaria—saying that supply was stopped “due to absence of payments in rubles.”
Poland had a deal with Gazprom expiring at the end of 2022.
Poland has always argued that Europe needs to cut its reliance on Russian gas because Moscow weaponizes energy to gain influence in the EU. Poland itself has been trying for years to shake off its dependence on Russian gas as it has always considered Russia’s energy policy a threat to energy security.
