PLEASANT NEWS FOR SLOVAKIA: Germany warns against immediate ban on Russian gas imports
BRATISLAVA – The dilemma of how, when and to what extent Slovakia wants to “cut itself off” from Russian natural gas has been on the table for several weeks. Currently, it is still complicated, the situation is complex and it does not yet have adequate solutions. The European and certainly especially the Slovak economy can have existential problems with radical and expressive decisions.
This was also indicated by the head of the German energy company E.ON, Leonhard Birnbaum, who warns against a ban on Russian gas imports. “Such a move would not do much harm to Germany alone. The whole of Europe has caused enormous problems. “ said Birnbaum. He pointed out, for example, that Slovakia is almost completely dependent on Russian gas supplies, while the Czech Republic and Austria also import natural gas from Russia. Birnbaum also warned that Germany could not consider the problem a national matter. “If I think we will secure supplies for ourselves and not take care of another country, I will lead to the disintegration of the European Union,” said Birnbaum.
In this regard, he also said that he did not agree with the German government to impose an embargo on Russian gas imports. According to him, this approach is “correct and responsible”. Already three weeks ago Birnbaum said that Germany would need about three years to obtain from Russian gas. This is necessary to ensure the same volume of alternative supplies. “If we can do it sooner, it’ll be fine, but it certainly won’t be a little months,” added the head of E.ON. We therefore asked the Ministry of Economy and Club 500, which consists of representatives of large Slovak companies with more than 500 employees, to comment on the current topic of natural gas.
Even according to the words of General Director Duslo Šal Petr Bláha, LNG gas could be a substitute for Russian natural gas only if it is distributed in sufficient quantity and quality, which, according to Bláh, is unrealistic. “It will have to be liquefied in sufficient quality and in sufficient volume. According to EUSTREAM or the CAP, distribution is currently unrealistic and unrealistic. Because there are currently only four or five liquefied natural gas storage tanks in Europe. It must gradually enter the pipeline and does not exist today under the European Union’s principle of subsidiarity, which means that each EU country will receive an aliquot volume of this purchased LNG gas, which will be significantly more expensive. So we’re afraid this is not the solution. “ said CEO Duslo Šaľa.
Tibor Gregor, the executive director of Club 500, commented on the question of the time horizon in which Slovakia could completely and smoothly “cut itself off” from Russian gas. “According to the latest European Yearbook Europe Gas Tracker Report 2022, Russian gas compensation for LNG infrastructure investments is needed in the amount of EUR 48.5 billion. Of this, 12.3 billion are terminal completion costs and 36.3 billion are network completion costs. From these numbers, it is evident that full compensation is not possible in the foreseeable future. Only Slovakia has been building a gas connection with Poland for 4 years. Another problem is the capacity of tankers. The European Union would need to have more than 100 tankers available only to transport LNG for the needs of its economy, and there is no such spare capacity. The disconnection from Russian gas had devastating consequences for Slovakia, as the country with one of the highest dependencies on Russia. ” said Tibor Gregor.