The Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, Jozef Síkela, sent a letter to the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, on Thursday 5 September, in reaction to the expiry of the gas transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine at the end of the year (see EUROPE 13471/12), as revealed in a press release from the Czech Ministry.
Mr Síkela emphasised the capacity of the gas pipelines crossing Czech territory to replace the current volume of natural gas transiting through Ukraine, amounting to around 40 to 42 million cubic metres per day.
“If Russian gas transit via Ukraine is interrupted, replacement supplies will have to be found, mainly from other suppliers. We need to avoid the situation where we are buying gas that is officially not Russian, but which could be exchanged for Russian gas along the way”, he said.
The end of the transit agreement would mainly affect countries to the east of the Czech Republic.
According to Mr Síkela, the most appropriate alternative would therefore be to use gas from Western European countries, imported mainly in the form of LNG, which could be transported through the Czech Republic.
In addition, the press release points out that the German decision - following demands from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria and Slovakia - to abolish in 2025 the tax on gas storage (‘Gasspeicherumlage’), which makes transporting gas through Germany more expensive (see EUROPE 13420/3), “will make a significant contribution to the implementation of this plan”. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)