OTS: Winners of Slovak-Hungarian Gas Pipeline Procurement Known

Bratislava, 10 December 2012 – Eustream, the Slovak gas transmission systemoperator, selected the winners of the public procurement for the pipeline material and works for the Slovak-Hungarian Gas Pipeline Interconnector.

Winner of the procurement for the work services related to building of Slovak part of the Slovak-Hungarian Interconnector is the company BMS BOJNANSKY, s r.o. The main suppliers of the pipeline material are - ThyssenKrupp Mannex GmbH, Germany, GASPIPE, s.r.o., Slovakia, Metinvest International SA, Switzerland and RMA Kehl GmbH, Germany.

Start of the construction work on high-pressure gas pipeline DN 800 between Slovak republic and Hungary is scheduled for March 2013.

„We are again a step closer to construct the Slovak-Hungarian Interconnector. I believe, that everything continuous to go as planned and we will be prepared on commercial shipping by the end of 2014“, said Jean-Luc Rupp, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Eustream.

The interconnection between the transmission systems of the Slovak Republic and Hungary is a priority not only for Eustream and its Hungarian partner, but also for the national governments and the European Commission. The 115 kilometres pipeline (out of which 20 km are in the Slovak territory), including a compressor station to be built on the Hungarian side, represents a total investment of about160 millionEUR.Financial support envisaged under the European Energy Program for Recovery (EEPR) is 30 million EUR.

The start of commercial operations is scheduled for 01 January 2015.

SK/HU Gas Interconnector –The planned two-way pipeline should cover a length of approximately 115 kilometres (out of which 95 km is in the Hungarian territory and 20 km in the Slovak territory) and will have an annual transmission capacity of 5 billion cubic meters. It will connect up the high-pressure system located at VeľkéZlievce with the Hungarian transmission network near the village of Vecsés in the suburbs of Budapest. The strategic importance of the interconnection for Slovakia lies in ensuring access to prepared European gas projects like South Stream or the LNG terminal in Croatia and for Hungary in ensuring access to Western-European gas networks.The project will contribute to the European energy security and to the diversification of the transmission routes.

Eustream (www.eustream.sk)is a transmission system operator and natural gas carrier with a transmission system capacity of over 90 bcm/year, covering a total length of 2,270 km. Eustream guarantees access to the Slovak transmission system in a transparent and non-discriminatory way, providing a full range of services in the field of natural gas transmission. Its main partners are international energy companies.

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