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Because Poland let the long term contracts run out and also got cheered up for this by the US to not depend on Russia, Poland is the one who buys on the spot ma

Because Poland let the long term contracts run out and also got cheered up for this by the US to not depend on Russia, Poland is the one who buys on the spot market. The German companies buy from Gazprom under the umbrella of the cheap long term contracts and now are selling to Poland. The German companies order from Netherlands way much more then in previous years (almost double), because of long term contracts, that Netherlands has to fulfill. Here you have the companies, which are really profiting. It is not so much Gazprom as you may think.

p_l 5y ago
With Poland, it was more due to internal political need to be seen as hard on Russia (and please look the other way as we buy coal from Donbas). Another leg of that strategy was buying LNG from USA, which turned out to be American companies buying russian gas in St. Petersburg ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ With the contracts, the current ruling coalition sold people the idea that they "got back" money from Gazprom over high prices of long-term contract when spot gas prices were lower. This, indeed, led to a considerable refund - but also meant we don't have guaranteed gas prices anymore, and now spot prices are much higher than they were when they renegotiated out the long-term contract ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
raxxorrax 5y ago
I think Poland expected more support for such a decision but they basically just cut their own flesh with that. Ironically the relationship between Russia and Poland is worse than between Germany and Russia. Post-war politics seem to have a larger impact.
- cheaprentalyeti 5y ago
  How can it be Ironic? It exactly matches the relationships in the first couple years of the second world war: Germany and Russia had the Molotov-Ribbentroff Pact, and the parts of Germany and the Soviet Union that used to be a country called Poland Just Had To Put Up With It.
- p_l 5y ago
  Germany (or rather "Prussia", given that unified Germany is relatively new thing) and Russia had been much more friendlier with each other than their relationship with Poland, for considerable stretches of history. To the point that at times it's talked as "traditional german-russian friendship". On completely unrelated note is that our (Polish) current government is beyond stupid, voided long-term contracts during a period of cheaper gas prices, and is now forced to buy at spot prices for more than it saved on the long-term contract (also lots of political capital being involved between govt and opposition).

p_l 5y ago

With Poland, it was more due to internal political need to be seen as hard on Russia (and please look the other way as we buy coal from Donbas). Another leg of that strategy was buying LNG from USA, which turned out to be American companies buying russian gas in St. Petersburg ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ With the contracts, the current ruling coalition sold people the idea that they "got back" money from Gazprom over high prices of long-term contract when spot gas prices were lower. This, indeed, led to a considerable refund - but also meant we don't have guaranteed gas prices anymore, and now spot prices are much higher than they were when they renegotiated out the long-term contract ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

raxxorrax 5y ago

I think Poland expected more support for such a decision but they basically just cut their own flesh with that. Ironically the relationship between Russia and Poland is worse than between Germany and Russia. Post-war politics seem to have a larger impact.

cheaprentalyeti 5y ago
How can it be Ironic? It exactly matches the relationships in the first couple years of the second world war: Germany and Russia had the Molotov-Ribbentroff Pact, and the parts of Germany and the Soviet Union that used to be a country called Poland Just Had To Put Up With It.
p_l 5y ago
Germany (or rather "Prussia", given that unified Germany is relatively new thing) and Russia had been much more friendlier with each other than their relationship with Poland, for considerable stretches of history. To the point that at times it's talked as "traditional german-russian friendship". On completely unrelated note is that our (Polish) current government is beyond stupid, voided long-term contracts during a period of cheaper gas prices, and is now forced to buy at spot prices for more than it saved on the long-term contract (also lots of political capital being involved between govt and opposition).