Poland’s PGNiG has agreed with Pakistan’s Mari Petroleum Co. to cooperate on upstream projects, PGNiG said on March 19.

“This is another step in the development of PGNiG’s operations in Pakistan, where we want to extract more and more natural gas,” Piotr Wozniak, PGNiG’s CEO, said in a statement.

State-run PGNiG imports from Russia’s Gazprom most of the gas it sells. It has taken steps to reduce that reliance, which include more imports of LNG from Qatar, Norway and the U.S.

It also wants to produce more of its own gas. PGNiG’s output was 4.5 billion cubic meters last year.

PGNiG has been present in Pakistan for 20 years. Apart from providing drilling services it also produces gas from two of the local deposits.

“We already cooperate with Pakistan Petroleum Limited. Establishing a partnership with another Pakistani company strengthens our presence in this country,” Wozniak said.