PRIME Minister Robert Fico met with Alexey Miller, head of the board of directors of Russian gas company Gazprom. Yet, only the Russian firm has spoken about the meeting.
“We discussed the current bilateral cooperation in the gas sector,” reads the report published by Gazprom, as quoted by the SITA newswire. It also states that the main issues discussed were the delivery of gas to Slovak consumers and its transit to so-called third countries.
Fico’s spokesperson Beatrice Szabóová refused to comment on the meeting.
One of the other issues negotiated at the meeting might have been the efforts of Ukraine to deliver gas from reverse flows through Slovakia, which it has been trying to do for several months. Yet, it has been speculated that these efforts are complicating its relations with Gazprom. Moreover, even if Ukraine receives gas from Slovakia, it will still be Russian gas, as reported by SITA.
Slovakia’s main transporter of gas, Eustream, however sees no reason to discuss with Gazprom the reverse flow from Slovakia to Ukraine. The company is a competent transporter of natural gas and an administrator of the transmission network in Slovakia, said Eustream’s spokesperson Vahram Chuguryan.
“We do not need an additional agreement with Gazprom; conversely it is necessary that the Russian customer makes a deal with the Ukrainian transporter,” Chuguryan said, as quoted by SITA.
Fico has meanwhile talked about discussing the new agreement over natural gas deliveries. At the end of September, when he announced that household gas prices will not change next year, he said that the new agreement might help to reduce the loss of the Slovenský Plynárenský Priemysel (SPP) gas utility in the household segment. Fico added that the negotiations will conclude in six or seven weeks, SITA wrote.
