Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08WARSAW941
2008-08-07 14:45:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Warsaw
Cable title:
POLAND/IRAN: DEPUTY PM OPPOSES POLISH INVESTMENT
how-toVZCZCXRO5680 PP RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR DE RUEHWR #0941 2201445 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 071445Z AUG 08 FM AMEMBASSY WARSAW TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6872 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE RUEHKW/AMCONSUL KRAKOW 2149 RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 000941
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/02/2018
TAGS: ECON ETTC EPET ENRG PREL PL IR
SUBJECT: POLAND/IRAN: DEPUTY PM OPPOSES POLISH INVESTMENT
IN IRANIAN FIELD
REF: A. WARSAW 732
B. WARSAW 806
C. WARSAW 845
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Pamela Quanrud for reasons:
1.4 (b,d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 000941
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/02/2018
TAGS: ECON ETTC EPET ENRG PREL PL IR
SUBJECT: POLAND/IRAN: DEPUTY PM OPPOSES POLISH INVESTMENT
IN IRANIAN FIELD
REF: A. WARSAW 732
B. WARSAW 806
C. WARSAW 845
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Pamela Quanrud for reasons:
1.4 (b,d)
1. (C) In a meeting August 6 with Charge, Polish Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Economy Waldemar Pawlak expressed in
clear terms his opposition to Polish state-owned gas company
PGNiG's discussed $2 billion investment in Iran's Lavan gas
field. He said he would express his opposition to the
project in the Council of Ministers and to Treasury Minister
Grad, who exercises statutory control over state-owned
enterprises. Pawlak noted that the investment would be bad
politics for Poland. He also expressed disbelief that PGNiG,
a state-controlled company under GoP-appointed management,
continued to pursue a holdover project from the previous
government's efforts to expand imports of non-Russian gas.
2. (C) Pawlak articulated a different strategy for
defending Poland from dependence on Russian-controlled gas.
His approach would exploit Poland's large coal reserves as a
source of gas-replacing electricity and as a new source of
gas itself, through coal-bed methane extraction and coal
gasification. This strategy, he asserted, would not only
undermine Russian influence based on gas supplies, it would
be cheaper than importing Russian or Iranian gas.
--------------
Comment: Can He Make it Stick?
--------------
3. (C) Pawlak does not clearly have the ability to block
PGNiG's plans. The GoP's two coalition partners - Prime
Minister Tusk's Civic Platform (PO) and the junior,
Pawlak-led Polish People's Party (PSL) - have struggled for
control over energy policy (Ref A) since the government's
formation, thus far inconclusively. Nonetheless, Pawlak's
opposition to a deal with Iran is a welcome departure (see
refs B and C) that we will seek to build upon.
QUANRUD
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/02/2018
TAGS: ECON ETTC EPET ENRG PREL PL IR
SUBJECT: POLAND/IRAN: DEPUTY PM OPPOSES POLISH INVESTMENT
IN IRANIAN FIELD
REF: A. WARSAW 732
B. WARSAW 806
C. WARSAW 845
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Pamela Quanrud for reasons:
1.4 (b,d)
1. (C) In a meeting August 6 with Charge, Polish Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Economy Waldemar Pawlak expressed in
clear terms his opposition to Polish state-owned gas company
PGNiG's discussed $2 billion investment in Iran's Lavan gas
field. He said he would express his opposition to the
project in the Council of Ministers and to Treasury Minister
Grad, who exercises statutory control over state-owned
enterprises. Pawlak noted that the investment would be bad
politics for Poland. He also expressed disbelief that PGNiG,
a state-controlled company under GoP-appointed management,
continued to pursue a holdover project from the previous
government's efforts to expand imports of non-Russian gas.
2. (C) Pawlak articulated a different strategy for
defending Poland from dependence on Russian-controlled gas.
His approach would exploit Poland's large coal reserves as a
source of gas-replacing electricity and as a new source of
gas itself, through coal-bed methane extraction and coal
gasification. This strategy, he asserted, would not only
undermine Russian influence based on gas supplies, it would
be cheaper than importing Russian or Iranian gas.
--------------
Comment: Can He Make it Stick?
--------------
3. (C) Pawlak does not clearly have the ability to block
PGNiG's plans. The GoP's two coalition partners - Prime
Minister Tusk's Civic Platform (PO) and the junior,
Pawlak-led Polish People's Party (PSL) - have struggled for
control over energy policy (Ref A) since the government's
formation, thus far inconclusively. Nonetheless, Pawlak's
opposition to a deal with Iran is a welcome departure (see
refs B and C) that we will seek to build upon.
QUANRUD