Kyiv complains over Slovakia barring Ukrainian specialists from gas facilities
KYIV. April 3 (Interfax) - Slovakia has refused to allow Ukrainian specialists into its gas facilities in order to study the conditions for organizing gas deliveries from the EU using reverse pipeline flows, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Prodan said.
"They don't even want to let our technical specialists together with Slovakians to the Kapusany gas metering station, so that we could examine the technical documentation and the conditions for organizing the reverse deliveries," Prodan said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.
"We are disposed to work very seriously with the European Commission, in order that the reverse flows through Slovakia do in fact take place," he said.
Slovakia has proposed to Ukraine construction of a new pipeline at a cost of 20 million euro, to be completed in 14 months, Prodan said. However, the Ukrainian government does not consider the project worthwhile.
Ukraine would like to be integrated with the European gas transmission system, particularly the North-South corridor, he said.
"In order to integrate with this corridor, we need to build about 100 kilometers of pipeline that would allow the European side to use our underground storage facilities efficiently. The reserve gas we are ready to pump in from European countries today is about 15 bcm. We are working on that with the European Commission," Prodan said.
It was reported earlier that organization of reverse flows through Slovakia would make it possible to deliver up to 20 billion cubic meters of gas to Ukraine from the EU.
Ukraine currently has access to reverse supplies delivered through Poland and through Hungary, with combined capacity for about 7.2 bcm a year.
