Poland seeks gas deal with Russia in July-minister

WARSAW, July 13 (Reuters) - Poland hopes to strike a preliminary long-term gas supply deal with Russia in July and to sign it in September, Economy Minister Waldemar Pawlak said on Monday.

"We hope to sign initially a long-term Yamal deal in July. A final deal would be signed in September," Pawlak told a press conference.

Russia is counting on Yamal -- which needs investments of up to $60 billion and should produce 250 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year by 2020 -- for the bulk of its gas supply to Europe in decades to come. [ID:nLO221477]

Poland is in talks with Russia over supply of about 2.5 billion metres of gas annually it needs to meet domestic demand starting from 2010.

Poland imports about two-thirds of its yearly consumption from Russia, but the government wants to diversify from its dependence on Russia through construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal.

The remaining one-third is being supplied from domestic gas fields. (Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko, Patryk Wasilewski)