Slovakia and Hungary sign gas interconnector agreement
Week in Slovakia
Case: Slovakia and Hungary sign agreement on gas connection
Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radičová and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán have signed an international agreement on cross-border gas pipeline connection on 28th January. The agreement was signed during the official working visit of Mr. Orbán to Slovakia.
The text of the agreement was already endorsed on Wednesday (January 19th) by the State Secretary of the Slovak Ministry of Economy Martin Chren and State Secretary of the Ministry of National Development of Hungary Pál Kovács. The Slovak operator of the transmission network, eustream,a.s has initiated negotiations with its Hungarian partner Földgázszálitó Rt after the PM´s signed the agreement, in order to set the base for a mutual commercial deal and technical design of the project. On the other side, according to information provided by eustream, the project documentation as well as the technical design already exist.
Works should start this year
„The connection project which is currently under preparation will define the transport capacities of individual sections, realisation costs of sections, as well as a time-schedule for all the preparation and realisation works. Works on the actual project should start already this year,” informed the Slovak Ministry of Economy. Construction of the Slovak-Hungarian connection should be another step towards eliminating the risks of possible suspensions of natural gas supplies from Russia.
The project of Slovak-Hungarian gas connection is part of the planned gas corridor north-south. The network of gas pipelines should connect LNG terminals in Croatia and Poland and should pass through all V4 countries and Croatia. The project has also received support from the European Commission, which evaluated it as a strategic one and will also support it financially with 30 million Euro from the European Energy Program for Reconstruction.
eustream: The project is under preparation since June 2009
Regardless of the political declaration from the Slovak and Hungarian governments, the project of Slovak-Hungarian connection is being prepared since June 2009 when the Slovak gas transporter „eustream,a.s.” and Hungarian transporter FGSZ signed a memorandum of understanding, said Danica Beharková, eustream spokeswoman for energia.sk.
Subsequently, at the end of 2009 an inquiry of interest in using the connection was carried out. During 2010, the two companies carried out a survey on binding interest (so called Open Season) in two periods. „Eustream evaluated both of the periods of Open Season as successful and it is ready to make a decision on implementing the project straight away. However, we are now waiting for the evaluation and decision from our Hungarian partners,” continued Beharková.
„The project documentation is ready, the technical design was also projected based on the estimated transport capacities. The project will be financed by the two operators of the transmission networks, while the EU has also approved 30 million Euro from the Program for Energy Reconstruction in Europe,” specified Beharková.
Political support of governments from the two countries that the project has, confirms its importance for the V4 region and its energy security. In future this connection can secure access to new sources of gas supplies by creating connections with the planned projects of Nabucco or South Stream,” concluded Beharková.
Miškov: Connection will strengthen our energy security
The north-south gas connection is according to the chief of the Ministry of Economy Juraj Miškov one of the most important steps in the field of energy security: „Apart from the priority which is security, it also brings a more effective diversification of routes and sources and improves competition on our energy market,” stated Miškov yesterday in Bratislava after the official meeting of energy ministers from V4 countries.
V4 wants to strengthen energy cooperation
Miškov together with Minister of Industry and Business of Czech republic Martin Kocourek, State Secretary from the Ministry of National Development of the Republic of Hungary Pál Kovács and chairman of the council of ministers and minister of economy of the Republic of Poland Waldemar Pawlak signed a common declaration.
They highlighted the need to bring in higher dynamics when implementing projects in the field of natural gas or oil industry, energy and electricity, to set a preliminary technical design of the north-south gas connection and support greater cooperation in the field of science and research, predominantly in the field of nuclear energy and clean technologies.
Monday – 24th January 2011
The nuclear power plant V1 in Jaslovské Bohunice is now without burnt out nuclear fuel. This week the process of transporting the fuel cells to the depository that is located out side of the building of the reactor was concluded. The reactors is operated by the company JAVYS.
Tuesday – 25th January 2011
Heat prices in Považská Bystrica will increase by only 0,5 % in 2011. Compared with other heat suppliers in Slovakia, this price increase is only a minimal one. The Regulatory Office for Network Industries (ÚRSO) estimated that prices for heat should increase by approximately 6,12 % in 2011.
Thursday – 27th January 2011
SMER-SD thinks that the current government is acting in a criminal way in the field of regulating energy prices, stated chairman Robert Fico. As the ex-minister of economy Ľubomír Jahnátek said, the current ministry of economy and construction is not taking full use of its competencies in the area of price regulation.
European Union and World
Monday – 24th January 2011
The Austrian court has decided that the president of the Austrian company OMV is found guilty of manipulating the market when selling shares of the Hungarian company MOL. Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer will also have to face another court hearing related to misusing information when conducting business.
Small hydro-power plants in Czech republic that are operated by the company ČEZ produced approximately one quarter more energy in 2010 than the year before. The reason behind the high production is intensive rainfalls, but also modernization of the facilities. In 2010 the power plants generated 265 GWH of electricity, informed the company ČEZ Renewable sources.
Costs related with energy are increasing rapidly during the last few years. The issue was raised during lecture in the Schneider Electric Energy Efficiency Theatre within the congres WFES 2011 in Abu Dhabi. Energy prices are on a rise and will increase in the future due to three reasons: energy demand is increasing (on a global and regional scale), conventional energy sources are becoming less available and at the same time the energy legislative is being modified intensively and it creates a need to invest into energy transformation.
Russian Transnefť has diverted oil supplies designated for Belarus. The reason is that Moscow was not able to agree with Minsk on the price for oil. The agreement was not even made during talks of both Russian and Belarus prime ministers at the end of last week.
Russian producers have found a way how to go around the ban on selling 100 watt light bulbs. Companies started to produce light bulbs with on input of 95 watts, which are in line with the tolerance that the technical norm respects. The law was introduced by President Dmitrij Medvedev and it came into force in 2011. Currently it does not rely on any sanctions.
Tuesday – 25th January 2011
Consumption of natural gas in Czech republic has increased by 10 % in 2010 compared with last year, informed the Czech Gas Union (ČPU). The main reason is an increased production in many industries as well as lower temperatures during 2009. This trend should also continue this year.
Russian and Azerbaijan signed an agreement on natural gas supplies for 2011. The agreement between Gazprom and Azerbaijan concern SOCAR talks about a total volume of 2 billion cubic meters of gas.
Mazda wants to produce electric vehicles. The Japanese automobile company is currently developing a car that runs on electricity and should primarily serve for governmental offices and companies in Japan.
Oil reserves in Belarus will last only until the end of January, warned representatives of home oil refineries. Russian Transnefť did not resume oil supplies for Belarus after the two countries were not able to resolve their dispute about the prices.
EU and USA can soon become unattractive for investors in the field of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency according to participants at the WFES 2011 in Abu Dhabi. The main reasons are the regulatory and legislative frameworks in the countries. Investors could thus move to countries like China or those in the Persian Gulf.
Wednesday – 26th January 2011
France want to build off-shore wind parks worth 10 billion Euro. The main aim is to increase electricity generation from renewables. Wind energy currently produces less than 2 % of all the generated electricity.
The European Commission has gained an important assurance of natural gas supplies from Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan for the natural gas pipeline Nabucco. Together the two countries will be able to export 31 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe. on Construction works on the pipeline, which has great support from EU, could start in 2012 or 2013, informed Commission for Energy Gunther Oettinger.
Thursday – 27th January 2011
British oil research company Heritage has found a huge gas deposit in the Kurdish autonomous area in Iraq. Based on the estimations, the deposit could hold more than 12,3 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
A gigantic hydro-power plant Belo Monte will be built in the Amazonian rainforest in Brazil. The government has already issued a permit to chop down 238 hectares of the rainforest. The power plant should be finished in 2015 and estimated costs will reach around 15 billion USD.
Friday – 28th January 2011
Greece want to build the biggest photovoltaic electricity power plant in the world with a planned installed capacity of 200 MW. The project should cost 600 million Euro.
The share of solid fuels in Czech republic is decreasing. From 54 % in 2000 their share has dropped to the level of 46 % in 2009. On the contrary, share of liquid fuels is on a rise as well as electricity generation.
Hungary will announce a public tender in 2012 for extending the only nuclear power plant in Paks. The public competition should be evaluated in 2013 and the whole project should be finalised latest until 2030.
Energy company ČEZ has lost 700.000 permits during a hacker attack on the Czech national emissions registry. During last week a total number of 1,306 million of permits were stolen from the register. Approximately 610.00 permits were transferred onto accounts of national administrators in Germany and Estonia after the virtual attack.
Turkey plans to build new geothermal power plants in the country. Enel Green Power (EGP) has signed an agreement with a Turkish energy group Uzun under which a research and exploratory company will be set up. EGP also gained 142 licenses from the government to conduct research of geothermal drilling in Turkey.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has increased extraction in January to a record level. The amount of oil extracted each day now reaches volume 29,49 million barrels, which is maximum over the past two years. Iraq has the biggest share on the higher volumes as it is not bounded by OPEC quotas.
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