Brussels, 02/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - Despite the reservations of the European Commission, Warsaw expects in the near future to be able to ratify the gas contract between Poland and Russia on extending Russian gas supplies and transit. Ratification of the Russian-Polish gas agreement should come about in coming weeks, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday 31 August, confirming that the question will be discussed early next week between the minister for the economy, Waldemar Pawlak, and the European commissioner for energy, Günther Oettinger, on the sidelines of the Energy Council in Brussels on 6 and 7 September. The Commission repeated on Tuesday that it had doubts about the agreement being in line with EU rules. The contract provides for extension until 2037 of a contract for supplies of Russian gas to Poland over its territory via the Iamal gas pipeline for the countries of western Europe. The Commission's doubts mainly concern the EuRoPol Gaz firm, which belongs to Gazprom and PGNiG (48% each), PGNiG being the manager of the Polish section of the Iamal gas pipeline, which carries Siberian gas to Europe. The Commission wants to make sure that other gas operators may have access to the gas pipeline and that its access tariffs are equitable. The Commission's reservations also concern the low capacity for pipeline flow inversion at the Polish border, and regarding the lack of transparency in tariffs of the gas network manager, Gaz-System, owned by PGNiG. (E.H./transl.jl)