Slovak PM: Gas supply enough in coming months

Slovakia has secured gas for a potential gas supply crisis, said Prime Minister Robert Fico said after Friday's session of Security Council on the possible short supply of gas following Ukraine crisis. Given Slovakia's existing gas stocks and "a mild winter, which has allowed us to fill gas storage facilities faster ... we can say with certainty that if not even a single cubic meter of gas is delivered to Slovakia from the west or from the east, we have enough to cover the needs of households and the economy until the end of September," said Fico. He added that Slovakia's annual consumption is about 5 billion cubic meters. Through reverse flow -- via pipeline interconnections of Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and Slovakia and Austria - about 85-90 million cubic meters of gas can be delivered per day. "This is many times more than Slovakia's real needs," stressed Fico. The session was also attended by Economy Minister Tomas Malatinsky, representatives of the Slovak gas-pipeline operator Eustream and Slovak gas utility (SPP).