OTS: SPP: We are ready. We guarantee smooth and safe supplies of natural ...

OTS: SPP: We are ready. We guarantee smooth and safe supplies of natural gas to our customers. Bratislava 1. January (TASR/OTS) - As of January 1st, 2025, Gazprom Export has suspended natural gas supplies to SPP. The reason is the non-renewal of the gas transit contract through the territory of Ukraine between the Ukrainian company Naftogas and the Russian company Gazprom Export. SPP has been preparing for this situation for a long time, therefore it continues to guarantee safe supplies of natural gas to all its customers, from large industrial customers to households. SPP experts will use other available resources to ensure for their customers, in addition to a sufficient quantity, the best possible price by combining selected business opportunities. The security of natural gas supplies from SPP stands on three main pillars. "The first pillar are the diversification business contracts for the gas purchase from a non-Russian source concluded with the companies BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, ENI and RWE. These contracts are flexible, and we can increase not only the required gas volumes, but also the length of validity of these contracts. This means that we are fully prepared for the stoppage of the supply of Russian gas through the territory of Ukraine," stressed the Chairman of the Board and CEO of SPP Vojtech Ferencz. The second pillar of gas supply security are diversified transport routes. Slovakia has a gas pipeline connection with each of the surrounding countries. Natural gas can thus be transported from any direction. For us, the preferred alternative transit route during the winter season is a gas pipeline from Germany through Austria or the Czech Republic, with sufficient volume of free transit capacity or already reserved transit capacity. The southern transit route through the TurkStream gas pipeline through Turkey and further Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary also appears to be important. In the past, however, the company also used the transit route from Croatia or Italy, via Austria to Slovakia. Given the high transit fees, a transit corridor through Poland appears to be the least likely, but not excluded. The third pillar of supply security for our customers is natural gas stored in gas storages. "We currently have approximately 20% more gas available in gas storages in Slovakia than last year. In addition, we have made the decision that our storage capacity will be filled to 100% not only at the beginning of the heating season, but also at the beginning of the year, i.e. in January 2025. From the security of supply point of view, during the ongoing winter, SPP has, in a combination of diversification contracts, secured transit routes and the gas in storages, the largest volume of gas available in recent years," added Vojtech Ferencz. Since the beginning of securing alternative supplies, the company has stressed that diversification has its price, and if Russian gas does not flow to our territory in 2025, any other alternative will be significantly more expensive. If SPP buys the entire necessary volumes from another source and physically transit it to Slovakia in 2025, the company will pay approximately 90 million euros more. The difference is mainly caused by transit fees, which are constantly increasing. At the same time, the interruption of natural gas supplies through Ukraine will also result in an increase in prices on the wholesale markets. In addition, in the case of a cold winter, this situation can cause gas shortages and supply problems throughout Europe. ********************************************************************* We would like to remind our customers that the materials marked OTS are provided as part of the Original Text Service and The News Agency of the Slovak Republic (TASR) cannot be held responsible for their content. *********************************************************************