Industry ministry working group to address Czech gas supplies

A working group at the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MPO) will today address technical solutions for supplying the Czech Republic with natural gas should Russian gas stop flowing to Europe. This is the second meeting of the group, which was established to address the impact of the war in Ukraine on Czech industry.

According to Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Síkela (STAN), joint gas purchases are being discussed in the European Union. „At the moment, we are probably closest to being able to bring Norwegian gas here via the NETRA pipeline if the flow of gas from Russia were to stop. According to our calculations, in the best-case scenario it would be able to cover roughly between a quarter and a third of Czech demand during the winter heating season,“ Síkela said on Czech Television on Sunday. Gas from the North Sea can flow to the Czech Republic via the northern German NETRA pipeline and connecting infrastructure since May 1997.

It was also said on a Czech Television discussion programme on Sunday that in 2018 the government considered joining the BACI gas pipeline project, which was intended to connect the Czech network to Austria. However, according to daily E15, the Slovak gas transmission operator, in which the company EPH of billionaire Daniel Křetínský has a stake, opposed it. „The BACI project is now outdated, but Net4Gas is currently preparing a connection to the Austrian system, which should be completed by 2028,“ Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (STAN) said on Sunday. According to him, Minister Síkela has discussed the project with investors and supports it. „Had it started in 2018, we could already have reached the stage where it was completed,“ he added.

However, Energetický průmyslový holding (EPH) pointed out that Austria is also 100% dependent on Russian gas. „Gas flows to Austria from Germany and Slovakia. The Czech Republic's connection capacity to these countries combined is 16 times greater than the planned capacity of the BACI pipeline. Twice Czech gas consumption can be transported to and from the Czech Republic via Slovakia. Nobody does this because it makes no sense,“ EPH spokesman Daniel Častvaj said.

According to him, connecting Czechia to Austria will have no impact on the country's shift away from Russian gas. „And last but not least, the price of gas in Austria is higher than in the Czech Republic. It will only bring unnecessary costs with zero effect on Czech energy security. It is sad how catastrophically Czech politicians fail to understand energy,“ Častvaj said.

The MPO working group, comprising deputy ministers at the ministry and representatives of the Confederation of Industry and Transport, the Czech Chamber of Commerce and the Confederation of Employer and Business Associations, met for the first time on Thursday 24 March. The working group, called Czech Industry and Ukraine, is headed by Silvana Jirotková, the MPO deputy minister for economic policy and entrepreneurship.