The Slovak and Hungarian natural gas transmission and pipeline operators have started taking binding bids for capacity in the planned pipeline that will connect the Hungarian and Slovak natural gas networks, the Slovak pipeline operator said Monday.
The Slovak and Hungarian natural gas transmission and pipeline operators have started taking binding bids for capacity in the planned pipeline that will connect the Hungarian and Slovak natural gas networks, the Slovak pipeline operator said Monday.

Eustream AS, the Slovak pipeline operator in which E.On Ruhrgas and Gaz de France together hold a 49% equity stake but have managerial control, and Hungarian gas transmission system operator FGSZ Zrt, said binding bids must be submitted by May 31.

The results of the auction will be published in June and long-term transmission contracts will be signed in July, Eustream said.

In the completed, non-binding phase of auction for capacity in the planned pipeline, 15 companies expressed interest and sought an aggregate transmission capacity of over 6 billion cubic meters a year, Eustream said.

"We are optimistic that...we will have enough shippers interested in transmission...for the project to go ahead", Eustream's chairman Andreas Rau, said in a statement.

The pipeline, which should improve energy security in Central Europe and could be connected to envisioned trunk pipeline projects including Nabucco, South Stream or the LNG terminal in Croatia, should be 115 kilometers long and be operating in 2013.

The project to connect Slovak and Hungarian pipelines is partially funded by a European Union grant under the European Energy Programme for Recovery.

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