Poland, increasingly jittery about its reliance on Russian energy, is to hold talks with Algeria that could lead to a natural gas supply deal, Economy Minister Piotr Wozniak said.

Following a meeting with the visiting Algerian Energy and Mining Minister Chakib Khelil, Wozniak said that representatives of Polish gas firm PGNiG and Algeria's Sonatrach would start discussions on Thursday "on the possibilities of cooperating in the delivery of gas".

"Algeria is a major, reliable supplier of liquefied natural gas," Wozniak told reporters.

The two countries were "ready to pursue in-depth talks on the possibility of supplying Poland with liquefied gas from 2010 or 2011", his ministry said in a statement.

On Wednesday Wozniak and Khelil signed an economic cooperation memorandum that concentrates on energy, petrochemicals and mining.

Khelil urged Polish firms to join the bidding for the construction of a new gas pipeline across the Sahara.

Poland's renewed efforts to diversify its sources of gas come after Russian gas giant Gazprom cut off supplies to neighbouring Belarus, which is also a transit route for 20 percent of Russia's gas to Europe. Warsaw said the row affected Poland's energy security.

Russian imports account for around 42 percent of Poland's natural gas needs.

Besides holding discussions with Algeria, Warsaw is also seeking to revive a gas deal with Norway that ended after Poland's previous government pulled out.

PGNiG recently announced that it would begin building a gas terminal at the Baltic Sea port of Swinoujscie, near the border with Germany.

The new terminal, which is set to be operational by 2011 and could eventually handle 7.5 billion cubic metres of gas, is seen as crucial if Poland is able to receive imports from new sources.

Russia has been involved in a string of rows with countries that depend on it for gas and oil or which are key transit routes for the energy Russia sells to European Union nations.

Relations between PGNiG and Russian gas giant Gazprom are currently deadlocked, the Polish company said on Wednesday.

PGNiG said that Gazprom had demanded more say in pipeline transit operations through Poland and taken issue with Poland's transit fees.