(Corrects amount in proposed gas swap in last paragraph to 20
million cubic metres a day from total 100 million cubic metres)
By Peter Laca
BRATISLAVA, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Slovakia will have to reduce
gas supplies to heating plants and cut off big industrial
consumers unless Russian natural gas via Ukraine starts flowing
again by February, a minister said on Thursday.
Economy Minister Lubomir Jahnatek said Slovakia, one of the
countries most affected by the Russian gas supply interruption,
could maintain current levels until the end of January from
reserves and supplies from alternative sources.
The government also said it was exploring other routes for
emergency gas supplies and appealed to European nations to let
it draw Russian gas flowing in a pipeline by-passing Ukraine.
Bratislava declared a state of emergency on Jan. 6, five
days after Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine over a pricing
dispute. Gas deliveries to large Slovak clients were reduced,
forcing about 1,000 companies to shut down or cut production,
including western car makers and steel producers.
Jahnatek said supplies to large industrial consumers will be
cut to zero from February if the Russian supplies do not resume.
They are now at a level meant to keep equipment such as furnaces
running but not to allow production.
Heating for homes and schools has so far been unaffected but
Jahnatek said gas supplies to large heating plants would be cut
by 20 percent and shipments to smaller plants by 30 percent if
the Russian gas did not begin to flow.
"However, supplies to hospitals and other medical
institutions will remain unaffected," he told a news conference.
Hungary has said it would supply electricity to Slovakia,
its northern neighbour, amid the crisis, and was also ready to
provide 1.0-1.5 million cubic metres of gas per day, a fraction
of daily consumption. []. Slovakia already receives
emergency gas supplies from the Czech Republic.
Slovakia is totally dependent on Russian gas and transits
about 80 percent of Russian supplies flowing to the European
Union, equalling about 20 percent of the EU's consumption.
The central European country of 5.4 million has been
considering restarting a nuclear power unit decommissioned at
the end of last year. A restart -- put off for the time being --
would put Slovakia at odds with EU law.
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico held talks with German
utility RWE <RWEG.DE> on Thursday on gas deliveries from the
Yamal pipeline taking Russian gas through Belarus and Poland.
"RWE representatives confirmed to us that this is a
technicallly feasible product," Fico said. "We only need to ask
partners who are drawing gas from Yamal for solidarity, and for
providing part of that gas to Slovakia."
Fico said the Yamal alternative was a second option for
emergency supplies, as Slovakia focused primarily on a swap
operation it had proposed to Ukraine and Russia on Thursday.
Under the swap option, Ukraine would provide Slovakia with
20 million cubic metres of gas a day, and then take the same
amount from Russian gas destined for Slovakia.
(Reporting by Peter Laca; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
(for main story on gas dispute, click on [])
