2024-10-08 09:40:02
The Czech Republic is prepared for the possibility that Russian gas will stop flowing through Ukraine on January 1. It could handle even a harsh winter, even if on the edge, says Václav Bartuška, special representative of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs for energy security issues, in an interview with Aktuálně.cz.
The transit of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine should end on January 1. If it really turns out the way Ukraine says, i.e. that it decided not to extend the contract with Gazprom. What will it mean for the Czech Republic?
The word “if” is important. If that situation actually occurs. Because in the past there were already many indications from Ukraine that it would stop the transit of Russian gas and Russian oil through its territory. The last time in July, various official Ukrainian statements about the end appeared, subsequently the Ukrainians modified those positions again. Honestly, no one knows what will happen on January 1st if Russian gas actually stops flowing through Ukraine. I don’t think they even know it in Kyiv.
The head of the French energy company TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, recently stated that gas reservoirs in the European Union are 91 percent full, but that he is not sure whether Europe would be able to cover the failure of Russian oil supplies through Ukraine even with full reservoirs. Is Pouyanné panicking, or are his fears justified?
Since we have largely eliminated Russia as a major source – with the exception of Slovakia, Austria, Bulgaria and Hungary – the European gas system is quite tight and has minimal leeway. In this respect, the head of TotalEnergies is right. Especially if it will be a hard winter with low temperatures. From the past, we are used to the fact that gas sources are duplicated, that when one source fails, another replaces it, that it had a lot of backups. That’s gone now. But again, if it’s a mild winter, similar to the last two, we shouldn’t have a serious problem. If it’s tough, we can handle it too, but on the edge. Another problem would be, for example, an attack, sabotage on gas pipelines from Norway.
There is conflicting information about the extent to which we still use, or on the contrary do not use, Russian gas in the Czech Republic. So how is it?
It depends on the specific months. Gas from Russia is not subject to sanctions, unlike oil. We are actually part of the German energy market, and from August 2022 Russian gas will flow to us only exceptionally. For example, it happened last November or this February. It was a very mild winter, the gas tanks were ninety percent full, so Russian gas was coming from Slovakia and Hungary, contracted as part of the “take or pay” contract (payment of the agreed quantity regardless of whether the gas was taken or not – editor’s note) to us, to Germany, to Italy and other countries. Plus in some countries of the European Union, for example in Spain or Belgium, a certain amount of liquefied LNG gas is still sold. Even in Great Britain, which is no longer in the EU.
Václav Bartuška | Photo: Jakub Plíhal
The Czech Republic has leased two liquefied gas terminals – one in the Netherlands, the other in Germany. You recently said that the Czech Republic needs additional, new resources. How reliable a source is Qatar – the country with the third largest gas reserves after Russia and Iran?
There are three main suppliers in the field of liquefied gas. United States, Australia and Qatar. It is important to negotiate with Qatar, but let us not be under the illusion that some supplier, and this also applies to the United States, will offer us some advantage. It’s a business and everyone wants to sell for the best price. This also applies to countries that are gas pipeline suppliers – Algeria, Azerbaijan and Norway.
Are we intensively negotiating with Qatar?
Yes, similar to others, from 2022. For now, all liquefied gas still travels to us through the spot market. In a regular month, we consume gas mainly from Norway and also from the Netherlands, but it wants to stop the extraction of its natural gas. The share of Russian gas will not increase, so we are negotiating with the United States, Qatar, Algeria and several other possible suppliers.
Routes of Russian pipelines to Europe – Nord Stream, Yamal and Soyuz gas pipelines and Druzhba oil pipeline | Photo: Aktuálně.cz
When we talked about Ukraine considering stopping the transit of Russian gas, the issue of interrupting the transit of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline is also on the table…
The situation with oil between Ukraine and Russia is the same as with gas. We don’t know how they will decide in Kiev or Moscow.
Is there any idea when the Czech Republic will have an extended connection to the Transalpine Oil Pipeline (TAL), which runs from Italy to Austria and Germany?
Construction should be completed by the end of this year, so far everything is going according to plan. We expect that the transition of our Litvínov refinery to non-Russian oil will be a matter of the first half of next year.
So the exemption we negotiated in the European Union to buy Russian oil will end next year?
Yes. We take seriously the EU’s commitment to get rid of dependence on Russian raw materials as soon as possible. Just like Germany, France or Italy.
Many emotions and strong statements by some Hungarian and Slovak politicians were caused by the supposed end of the transit of oil of the Russian company Lukoil through Ukraine due to the fact that the Ukrainians imposed sanctions on Lukoil. Then, suddenly, Slovakian and Hungarian criticism of Ukraine stopped, everything became silent and quiet. So what actually happened?
She’s a bit of a crisis that wasn’t really there. There was no restriction of oil supplies to Slovakia and Hungary. On July 17, Slovak and Hungarian politicians started talking about limiting oil supplies. The media reported on it that there was a threat of price increases and so on. The CEO of the Hungarian oil and gas concern MOL, which also owns Slovakia’s Slovnaft, publicly said on August 5 that there is no crisis and that supplies continue at full capacity.
What really happened? A battle within Russia to grab as much of the oil and gas financial pie as possible has shrunk after losses in European markets. Oil suppliers to Slovakia and Hungary are companies registered in the West, most often in Switzerland. Some are subsidiaries of Russian miners, Tatneft or Lukoil. The fight is between them rather than between Moscow and Kyiv. It is a fight over the division of commissions and money from the export of Russian oil.
Video: Ukrainians inflict even harder blows on Russia than Kursk, says Petra Procházková (September 9, 2024)
Spotlight Aktuálně.cz – Petra Procházková | Video: Team Spotlight