BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

16/01/2009

Slovakia asks Germany, France for Russian gas via Belarus

Prague - Slovakia, which faces natural gas shortages amid the Russian-Ukrainian row, wants Germany and France to give up some of its Russian gas flowing to western Europe via Belarus, the Slovak premier said Friday.

'We expect a display of European solidarity,' Prime Minister Robert Fico told reporters after meeting his Czech counterpart Mirek Topolanek in Prague.

Fico said that Slovakia planned to ask German and French gas firms, E.ON Ruhrgas and Gaz de France, for a share of their gas flowing from Russia via the Jamal pipeline crossing Belarus.

'Slovakia can't wait. We can't rely on someone making some deal in two, three weeks,' he said.

Economy Minister Lubomir Jahnatek said earlier that Slovakia would ask for 20 million cubic metres of gas a day, or nearly a quarter of 89 million cubic metres transported daily via the Jamal route.

The Slovak premier said that he informed German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the plan and would soon speak to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

A consortium of E.ON Ruhrgas and Gaz de France owns a 49-per-cent stake in Slovakia's dominant gas importer and distributor SPP.

The Jamal gas would arrive in Slovakia through the Czech Republic, which vowed to switch its transit pipes to a reverse flow.

However, this gas would not reach Slovak consumers immediately. Slovakia needs four to five days to upgrade its technology, so gas could be pumped in reverse flow from the Czech-Slovak border to the country's east.

Slovakia, which is fully dependent on Russian gas pumped via Ukraine, asked 1,000 companies to cut gas consumption to a minimum. Fico said that the cut-off is costing the Slovak economy 100 million euros (132.5 million dollars) each day.

If gas does not start flowing by late January, the government would introduce further restrictions, including 20-per-cent cuts for large heating utilities, officials said.

Czech premier Topolanek, whose country currently chairs the European Union, said that Jamal deliveries would prevent member states like Slovakia from seeking separate gas deals in Moscow amid the ongoing shutdown.

Slovak leaders are negotiating on all fronts in a bid to obtain gas, which would allow the central European country of 5.4 million to kick-start industrial production.

Also on Friday, Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic and economy minister Jahnatek were due to press Ukrainian leaders to agree to a gas swap with Gazprom.

Under the deal, Gazprom would daily pump 20 million cubic metres of gas for Slovakia to eastern Ukraine. Ukraine would then send the same amount to Slovakia from its reserves.

Gazprom agrees to the swap, Slovak and Russian officials said. 'But it looks as if Ukraine, for political reasons, does not wish to carry on negotiations on the exchange,' Gazprom's deputy chief Alexander Medvedev told journalists on Friday.

Source:

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/business/news/article_1453919.php/Slovakia_asks_Germany_France_for_Russian_gas_via_Belarus_

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