UPDATE 1-Poland seeks deal to boost Russian gas supply

* Poland hopes to sign agreement by end-August

* Says Russia will stay its main gas supplier

(Adds details, quotes, background)

MOSCOW, July 1 (Reuters) - Poland hopes to sign an agreement with Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM) by the end of August to increase gas supplies by between 2 billion to 3 billion cubic metres (bcm) annually from 2010, a PGNiG official said on Wednesday.

"We hope to sign an agreement with Gazprom on increasing gas shipments by 2 to 3 bcm from 2010 by the end of August," Miroslaw Dobrut, deputy chairman of Poland's gas monopoly PGNiG (PGNI.WA), told reporters through a translator.

Dobrut said that under the current contract for 2010, Poland will receive 8 bcm of gas from Gazprom, Russia's gas export monopoly, which is equivalent to about 4.3 percent of all of Russian gas exports to Europe last year.

Poland was not been receiving all of its contracted gas supplies from Russia after Ukrainian intermediary RosUkrEnergo, a joint venture between Gazprom and two Ukrainian businessmen, halted deliveries due to a gas row between Moscow and Kiev in January.

However in mid-May, Gazprom subsidiary Gazprom Export agreed with PGNiG to deliver 1.02 bcm of gas through September for about $300 million, easing concerns that the country's store of gas supplies would not be filled by the start of winter.

Poland uses between 13 billion to 14 bcm billion gas annually and imports about two-thirds of it from Russia. Warsaw has long been seeking ways to ensure more gas supplies and diversify its energy sources to lessen its dependency on Russia.

In April, PGNiG (PGNI.WA) signed a framework agreement with Qatar's Qatargas Operating Company to receive liquefied natural gas (LNG) starting in 2014.

Polish Minister of Treasury Aleksander Grad said at the official deal-signing on Monday said Poland hoped the agreement with Qatar would develop to more than the 1 million tonnes of LNG it will now supply annually. [ID:nLT72698]

Qatar GAs Chief Executive Faisal al-Suwaidi said supplying more LNG to Poland would not be a problem.

However, PGNiG's Dobrut said on Wednesday that Russia would remain the main supplier of natural gas to Poland.

"With Qatar, it's only a small volume. We hope that Russia will increase supply," he said, adding that PGNiG expected gas consumption in Poland to rise by between 4 and 6 bcm in the mid-term. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Karen Foster)