Eustream Welcomes Russians' Assurances on Gas Transport
Bratislava, April 12 (TASR) – Slovak gas transport operator Eustream welcomes assurances from Russia that the Slovak pipelines will be used for gas transport long term, Eustream’s external communication specialist Pavol Kubik told TASR on Wednesday.
Kubik was reacting to information presented in the media on Tuesday concerning the signing of a new general agreement between Gazprom Export and Eustream on the transport of gas. Nonetheless, Kubik didn’t provide any further details.
“Eustream isn’t entitled to reveal information on individual contracts with our customers,” said Kubik, adding that data on the reserved capacities will be available on the transport operator’s website.
Meanwhile, Zuzana Harvanova from the European Commission Representation Office in Slovakia stated that the Commission will take a look at the contract. “It’s the Commission’s duty to ensure that all projects and contracts in the EU are in line with EU legislation,” Harvanova told TASR.
The new contract between Gazprom Export and Eustream on transporting gas through Slovakia, worth €5.3 billion, should be in force until 2050. The previous contract covered the period 2009-28.
At the moment, Slovakia is one of the main transit countries for Russian gas to Western Europe. Nonetheless, the situation has been complicated by Russian-Ukrainian disputes in recent years, with Russia having decided in the meantime to bypass Ukraine.
Gazprom’s plans to construct another branch of the North Stream pipeline bypassing Ukraine caused concerns in Slovakia, but Gazprom later stated that it would use the Slovak transport system long term, even after North Stream 2 is constructed.
