Slovakia Says Russian Gas Supplies Down, Strikes Back-Up Deals

Slovak gas importer SPP saw a 51.5 percent reduction in gas supplies from Russia on Thursday versus requested amounts and said agreed to deals to secure deliveries if needed in the coming months, Prime Minister Robert Fico said.

Fico said state-owned SPP has concluded a 5-year deal with E.ON Global Commodities to supply up to 2 million cubic metres per day via Austria when needed. SPP has also bought gas on the spot market in Austria to be delivered in the fourth quarter 2014 and first quarter 2015 if needed.

Fico said Slovakia could also use reverse flow of gas from the Czech Republic to supply customers.

Slovakia has observed reductions in supplies versus its requested amounts for several weeks. Gazprom said on Thursday it shipped unchanged amounts of gas to Slovakia in the past 10 days, but did not specify how much was intended for SPP or other buyers in Europe.

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Michael Kahn)