SLOVAKIA has increased the imports of natural gas from Germany through the Czech Republic in order to get some reserves in a case Russia stops the deliveries. Withdrawing gas from Slovak reservoirs decreased last week, and it even stopped during the previous weekend, according to Gas Storage Europe utility.
The merchants say that the increased imports from Germany should substitute withdrawing gas from reservoirs during winter and keep some reserves, the SITA newswire reported.
“We have been sending the gas to Slovakia through the Czech Republic for several weeks since the gas is more expensive there than in Germany,” one merchant working for a German energy firm told SITA. He added that Slovakia increased its orders of gas in Germany after Ukraine had not paid the bill for gas to Russia.
The Slovenský Plynárenský Priemysel (SPP) gas utility claims that the supplies of natural gas from Russia to Slovakia are normal.
“SPP assures all its customers that we are ready to supply the gas without any restrictions even if there is a partial or total cut off from the east,” SPP spokesman Peter Bednár said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. “We can manage this mainly due to sufficient supplies of gas in underground storage facilities.”
SPP’s subsidiary Eustream, which owns the transit gas pipeline passing through Slovakia, confirmed that they have not recently recorded any significant increase in the volume of gas entering the Slovak market, as reported by TASR.
Source: SITA, TASR
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
