The Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, assures that Russian President Vladimir Putin has assured them that “somehow” his country has secured gas supplies, after supplies to Europe through Ukraine were interrupted after their transit agreements expire.
Fico explained that he has received a “guarantee” from Putin that Slovakia will have secure gas supplies. either through “the southern corridor” or “some other way”according to the Bloomberg agency.
“Putin guaranteed that they would fulfill their commitments”said Fico, who in recent weeks has been warning of the serious economic consequences for his country of the interruption of Russian gas to Europe through Ukraine.
As a result of all this, Fico has been accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of “sabotage” the European economy in favor of the interests of the United States. This Thursday, he raised his complaint with the European Commission and once again warned kyiv to respond reciprocally, for example with power cuts.
Slovakia’s largest gas company, SPP, has a long-term contract with Gazpromthe Russian gas company that interrupted the passage of natural gas through Ukraine on January 1 after its transit agreements expired.
The SPP, which supplies the 63% of the national markethas several diversification contracts in force. However, Slovakia currently covers its national gas needs from stored reserves, Fico said.
Transnistria extends state of emergency
The Parliament of the self-proclaimed republic of Transnistria, the separatist Moldovan region, approved this Friday the extension of the emergency measures decreed in the midst of the energy crisis due to the significant reduction of gas supply to the area.
The measure, introduced by the region’s separatist leader, Vadim Krasnoselski, is now extended for another 30 days waiting for the energy situation to improve, especially after The Ukrainian Government will close the tap to the transit of Russian gasjust as it had been threatening, as reported by the regional Parliament itself on its website.
The decision largely affects Moldova, but also European countries such as Austria, Slovakia, Italy and the Czech Republic, among others. However, the Transnistria region has been especially affected by the suspension of gas supplies in the middle of winter and with temperatures below 0ºC.
The Cuciurgan thermoelectric plant has started using coal to generate electricity, although there have already been scheduled power cuts, spread over eight hours a day.
Last month, the Moldovan Parliament also approved a state of emergency for the energy sector amid fears that the situation could lead to a humanitarian crisis in Transnistria.
Spain continues betting on Algeria
For its part, Spain continues to trust Algeria as a gas supplier. Algeria has closed 2024 as the main supplier of natural gas to Spain, with 38.5% of the totall of imports arriving in the country throughout the year, ahead of Russia, which practically maintains its 2023 levels.
Specifically, the African country supplied Spain with a total of 131,202 gigawatt hours (GWh) in the whole of 2024, of which 105,891 GWh through the Medgaz tube and 25,311 GWh as liquefied natural gas (LNG). This figure was 12.8% more than the natural gas arriving in 2023 from Algeria.
In this way, this country consolidates its role as main supplier of natural gas to Spainsince it only recently lost in 2022 in the midst of the energy crisis, when it was ousted by the United States.
In the case of Russia, the natural gas arriving in Spain from this country reached 72,360 GW in 2024, a figure practically in line with the 72,690 GW in 2023, and that has represented 21.3% of the total.
Natural gas has not been included in the vetoes adopted by the EU against Russia. In the specific case of Spain, the majority of the natural gas that arrives from Russia comes from long-term contracts with Yamal LNG, a consortium led by the private Russian company Novatek and whose shareholders include European capital and capital from other countries.
For its part, The United States, which in 2022 starred in a historic ‘overtake’ of Algeria In the midst of the energy crisis due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it has been the third main supplier of natural gas to Spainwith 56,435 GWh -16.6% of the total-, although this figure represents almost 33% less than in 2023.
On the other hand, with regard to the underground storage In Spain, as of January 10, they are around 80% full, a percentage higher than what is usually usual at this time of year and higher than the European average.
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