Dow Jones: Poland: Arbitration Best Way To Get Lower Gas Prices From Russia

Poland finds inter-company arbitration proceedings more effective than negotiations via diplomatic channels at lowering the price the central European country pays for natural gas imported from Russia, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday.

Poland relies heavily on Russia to cover its gas needs, importing from OAO Gazprom about two-thirds of the gas it consumes. Because of that dependence and its current inability to import gas from other areas, Poland pays what it describes as excessive prices for Russian gas.

In a rare concession to European utilities that have long pressed for pricing relief, Russian's Gazprom agreed in January to lower the price to several European importers, but not Poland's PGNiG SA by an undisclosed amount due to changing market conditions.  MORE