Slovakia is now taking less than half its gas from Russia, minister says

Bratislava, June 20 (ČTK correspondent) - Slovakia is currently receiving less than half of its total natural gas purchases from Russia. This is due to insufficient transport capacity for deliveries of Russian gas. Slovak Economy Minister Denisa Saková told reporters today. The European Commission's proposal to gradually halt imports of Russian gas by the end of 2027, already criticised by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, will, she said, push gas prices on the Central European market up by 10 to 15 percent and also increase transit fees.

Russian gas giant Gazprom supplied gas to Slovakia via Ukraine until the end of last year, but Ukraine did not renew its transit contract with the Russian side. Russian gas for Slovak gas utility SPP subsequently began flowing via the southern route through Turkey, which does not have sufficient capacity.

"At the moment, we are taking less than half of our gas from Russia. We buy a larger share of our gas under various diversification contracts. This is because there is not enough capacity for us to take as much Russian gas as we need," Saková said.

She added that state-controlled gas utility SPP, Slovakia's largest gas seller, is currently buying around 12 million cubic metres per day.

According to Saková, prices for Russian gas are comparable to those of alternative supplies, which are made more expensive by transit fees. She said Gazprom bears the transit fees itself, while Slovak gas utility SPP has to pay for transport from its own funds when buying from other sources. The minister put the difference in final prices at more than two euros per megawatt-hour (MWh) of gas, making alternative supplies more expensive; the wholesale price of gas on the European market is around 40 euros (993 Kč) per MWh. One MWh of gas corresponds to roughly 95 cubic metres of the commodity.

SPP has a contract with Gazprom until 2034. Slovakia's opposition has already called on SPP to launch arbitration proceedings against the Russian supplier because Gazprom is not meeting its obligations to supply gas to Slovakia. According to Saková, SPP has ten years to quantify the damages and take legal action.

The Slovak economy minister said she was in contact with her counterparts in European countries about removing bottlenecks in gas transport. One of them, she said, is on the route from Germany to Czechia.

Slovakia and Hungary opposed the European Commission's plan this week to gradually end imports of Russian gas into the EU. The individual measures in this matter will be approved by a qualified majority. This means Bratislava and Budapest can be outvoted.