Slovakia recognizes no gas shortage after stopping transit through Ukraine

Stopping Russian gas transit through Ukraine will not cause a gas shortage in Slovakia. However, the country will lose the money it has been earning at the expense of Moscow, the Slovak Ministry of Economy says.

“Slovakia is technically well prepared to stop gas supplies from Russia through Ukraine,” the statement said.

In particular, the state-owned SPP company stores 20% more gas in underground reservoirs than a year ago. In addition, the reservoirs contracted by SPP are almost 100% full even at the end of December, which is atypical for this period.

SPP has a diversified portfolio of gas supplies from five other major international energy suppliers, such as BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell, RWE, and ENI. At the same time, Slovakia has gas pipeline connections to each of its neighboring countries. Thus, natural gas can be transported in any direction, according to the Ministry of Economy of Slovakia.

Thus, the cessation of Russian gas transit from the east will have mainly financial consequences for Slovakia. Slovakia’s gas companies will pay about 177 million euros more in transit fees for gas coming from the west rather than the east, the ministry said.

“Slovakia will lose tens of millions more euros by ceasing to charge for gas transit to third countries,” the Slovak Ministry of Economy added.

Ukraine’s Naftogaz’s gas transit contract with Gazprom expires on January 1, 2025. Ukraine will cut off gas at 7 a.m. Kyiv time, depriving Moscow of about $5-7 billion in revenue a year.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico threatens to cut off electricity supplies to Ukraine because Kyiv does not plan to extend its contract with Moscow. However, Poland has already stated that it is ready to increase electricity supplies to Kyiv, which will cause Slovakia to lose revenue from this business as well.