Slovakia’s energy policy in 2016: struggling for interconnections
Slovakia’s energy policy in 2016: struggling for interconnections

Author(s): Pavol Szalai
Subject(s): Politics, Economy, Energy and Environmental Studies, Economic policy, International relations/trade, Geopolitics
Published by: Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (RC SFPA)
Keywords: Slovakia; 2016; energy; energy policy; interconnections; gas; Russia; Gazprom;
Summary/Abstract: Slovakia combines a high energy dependence with high energy intensity and relies on energy imports, mostly from Russia. However, in recent years this Central European country has made progress in terms of building interconnections in the gas sector, and market coupling in the power sector. Diversification is now possible for gas as well as oil supplies. Slovakia now faces a different challenge: to preserve its role as a gas transit country, and to resume its role as an electricity exporter. As the spectre of Nord Stream 2 looms over Slovakia, the country is looking for opportunities to offset the negative effects of the offshore project. The transmission system operator Eustream, owned by the government at 51 per cent, is seeking new business opportunities. It has been successful in transporting increased volumes of gas to Ukraine, thanks to the reverse flow. It has been much less successful, however, in selling its new pipeline project, Eastring, to Romania, and in pursuing an interconnection with Poland, an LNG import country. In the meantime, both Eustream and the Slovak government seem to be approaching a compromise with Moscow, which will allow Slovakia to continue transporting Russian gas westwards despite Nord Stream2. It was Poland, however, who made the game-changing decision on the project of Gazprom and its Western partners. The Polish competition authority effectively suspended the joint consortium, complicating the operational and financial prospects of the project.

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