Slovakia has secured new gas supplies from the West and it can cover gas consumption until the end of January if deliveries from Russia do not resume, a senior government official was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
Deputy Economy Minister Peter Ziga said the country will get an additional 2 million cubic metres of gas from GDF Suez (GSZ.PA) and E.ON (EONGn.DE), who jointly run the dominant Slovak gas company SPP through a 49 percent stake and management rights.
Ziga said the new supplies will boost the amount of gas Slovakia receives from sources other than Russia to 9.2 million cubic metres a day.
"Thanks to this, we can guarantee gas deliveries for the entire Slovak territory until the end of January," Slovak news agency SITA quoted Ziga as saying after the meeting of the government's crisis committee.
Slovakia, which normally covers almost all of its annual gas consumption of some 6 billion cubic metres with supplies from Russia, has been one of the most affected countries in central Europe after gas flow was cut off last week.
Bratislava declared a state of emergency on Jan. 6, under which gas deliveries to large corporate clients were reduced to a minimum and 1,000 companies had to shut or cut production, including factories of western car makers or steel producers.
