Slovakia agrees supply deals for LNG, piped Norwegian gas

 (Reuters) - Slovakia's state gas firm SPP has struck deals to buy enough piped Norwegian gas and other shipments of LNG to cover around 65% of the country's demand until the end of next year, Economy Minister Richard Sulik said on Friday.

Sulik told reporters Slovakia also continues to receive Russian gas.

"We can say today that supplies for Slovakia are secured until the end of 2023," Sulik told a news conference shown live on television.

"We have lowered, from June 1, dependency on Russian gas by 65%. That was the maximum that could be achieved so far."

He said the Norwegian contract was for about 32% of Slovak demand, and the LNG contract for nearly 34%.

"We have secured pumping of gas from ships in three or four places, Croatia as the closest one, but we can do it in Italy, Belgium and also England," he said.

"This is enough capacity for SPP to take one or two ships per month."

Sulik said the country, which uses around 5 Bcm³ of natural gas per year, also continued to take gas from Russia, where SPP a contract running until 2029.

He said the combined flows from June would mean that the country would fill enough gas into storage by July 10 to secure enough supply for the next winter season.

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague; Editing by Jan Harvey and David Evans)

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