Gas talks with Russia may drag on - Polish source

WARSAW, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Polish-Russian gas supply negotiations may still drag on despite progress achieved at a Monday meeting in Moscow, a Polish source close to the negotiations said on Tuesday.

On Monday Gazprom executive Alexander Medvedev said he saw a breakthrough in talks with Warsaw about a new and larger gas deal and that an agreement could be reached as soon as Wednesday. "Some points were agreed, but the talks are still going on," the source told Reuters under the condition of anonymity.

"It is possible the companies seal the deal tomorrow if there are no controversies. But the talks can as well go on for a while. The aim is to get a good agreement, not to get it quickly."

Warsaw had originally wanted to strike a deal by the end of July and to officially sign it during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to Poland on September 1, but the sides could not agree on all the issues.

The disagreement focused on the functioning of Europolgaz, a joint venture between PGNiG PGNI.WA and Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) that manages the Yamal pipeline in Poland.

Medvedev said on Monday the sides have agreed to a change in Europolgaz's shareholder structure -- the exit of minority shareholder Gas-Trading, which holds a 4 percent stake -- with Gazprom and PGNiG controlling half of the company each.

However, details of the exit have yet to be addressed, the source told Reuters.

Poland's gas monopoly PGNiG PGNI.WA and Gazprom Export, exporting arm of Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research), are due to start talks on Wednesday.

Poland, which imports about two-thirds of the gas it uses from Russia, faces an annual shortfall of some 2.5 billion metres from 2010, with Russia the only supplier capable of filling the gap.

Poland receives gas from Russia via the Yamal pipeline, which can carry about 30 billion cubic metres of gas annually to Europe. But the government wants to diversify supplies by building a liquefied natural gas terminal for imports from tankers. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, writing by Patryk Wasilewski)