Slovak gas utility SPP is well prepared for the rest of the winter, with 1 billion cubic metres of gas reserves at its disposal, SPP CEO Bernd Wagner told journalists on January 27.
The effects of the recent gas crisis on SPP's economic performance this year haven't been calculated yet, but the company admits that it has lost money, the TASR newswire reported. "We emphasised during the crisis that our key priority was to ensure reliable supplies to the most vulnerable groups in society, and we devoted all of our activities to this effect. We haven't had time to quantify the financial losses ... Now, the time has come, but we haven't got the results yet," said Wagner.
"Volumes of transported gas (flowing through Slovakia) currently stand at 200 million cubic metres per day, which is only slightly above the level in early January [before supplies were reduced and later completely cut off]," said Eustream transport company CEO Antoine Jourdain, adding that this fact signalled that European consumers were able to find other sources of gas during the crisis and weren't striving to make up for lost supplies. This could also be meant as a political signal to Russian gas concern Gazprom, said Jourdain.
Slovakia was completely cut off from Russian gas supplies for almost two weeks in January, which meant that around 1,000 businesses had to restrict production or put it on hold. According to Prime Minister Robert Fico, the gas crisis caused damage to the Slovak economy amounting to €100 million every day. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
