If Russia chooses to stop the gas flow to Ukraine as of June 1, as announced, the move is not likely to affect too much the transit of gas inbound for Europe, said Slovak gas distributor Eustream board of directors chair Tomas Marecek.
"It's probable that gas flow for Ukraine is to be stopped, but I, for one, don't believe they would shut down transit to Europe, too," Marecek said at a press conference on Monday.
"Even if the catastrophic scenario occurred, I don't believe that the shutdown would last for more than a few weeks. Europe, also due to the fact that it already experienced a similar crisis back in January 2009, is much better prepared for such an emergency," he claimed.
Since 2009, Europe has built new reservoirs, keeps a larger volume of gas in reserve and also the gas infrastructure is significantly better prepared for potential interruptions - by the reverse flow from west to the east, says Marecek.
Also Slovakia's gas reserves should last until September, confirmed Minister of Economy Tomas Malatinsky on Sunday. He also noted that there's an option to have gas delivered from other routes than from Ukraine such as from the Czech Republic - as was the case in 2009 - and Austria.
Eustream, one of Europe's largest gas distributors, is the operator of gas infrastructure with a total length spanning 2,270 kilometres and transit capacity of more than 90 billion square metres per year.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/eustream-plays-down-russia-gas-policy-changes-influence-europe