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Energy Conference: Construction of Gas Reserves Too Pricey
Monday 23 November 2009 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, November 23 (TASR) - The construction of state gas reserves would be exorbitantly costly, which would naturally translate into higher gas prices, Karel Hirman from the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency (SIEA) said at a conference devoted to the EU's energy policies and Slovakia's energy security that was held in Bratislava on Monday.
"I believe that nobody in Europe is treading this path," said Hirman, adding that discussion regarding the idea has been moved to the back burner because it's pointless from both the energy security and business perspectives.
According to him, the creation of gas reservoirs constitutes business for those who sell gas, namely gas companies. This is because the companies need to respond to high demand for gas in winter. For instance, the demand for gas in Slovakia is eight-fold in the winter season compared to summer.
"Gas from the reservoirs primarily doesn't cover situations when there's no gas supply from the supplier. These situations are dealt with by diversification of gas supplies from various suppliers and by various routes, this is the basic difference compared to oil reserves," said Hirman.
The current capacity of Slovak gas reservoirs exceeds 2 billion cubic metres. "This capacity is fully sufficient to cover Slovakia's needs, of course providing that the gas flow from the supplier to our system is sufficient," he added.
According to Hirman, a gas crisis in Slovakia similar to that in January 2009 isn't imminent this winter, as Slovak gas utility SPP has signed agreements with its suppliers to avoid such a situation reoccurring.
"We would be in an equally comfortable situation as our neighbours - the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary - where their gas supplies were diversified before, be it from other suppliers or thanks to extraction in their own countries," added Hirman regarding the possibility that there is a repeat of what happened in January.
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