Russia, Slovakia may establish joint gas venture

After talks with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on November 16 that Russia and Slovakia plan to establish a joint venture which will distribute Russian gas in Slovak, news agencies reported. “We have discussed the possibility of setting up a joint venture between Gazprom and Slovak partners to distribute natural gas in Slovakia,” Putin told reporters.
For his part, Fico said the company would supply gas for consumers as well as build and operate gas storage facilities in Slovakia. Fico added that the final decision would come after working groups complete work on details of the project.
Fico later met with Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom head Alexei Miller. They agreed to launch talks on forming the joint venture as soon as possible.
Gazprom pumped 6.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Slovakia last year. About 50 billion cubic meters of Russian gas are delivered to Europe through Slovakia annually.