Press TV: Slovakia opens pipeline for reverse gas exports to Ukraine

Slovakia has launched a new gas pipeline aimed at delivering natural gas from the European Union to Ukraine after Russia halted gas flows to the country earlier this year, Press TV reports.

The opening of a new route for reverse gas supplies to Ukraine came after Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom cut off its gas flow to Ukraine after Kiev missed a deadline to pay almost two billion out of the four billion dollars owed to Moscow in earlier gas bills.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has said the pipeline could potentially meet up to 20 percent of his country’s demand. However, economic experts believe the European gas will probably cost higher than imports from neighboring Russia.

Dmytro Marunych, a Ukrainian economic expert, told Press TV that the Kiev government has not revealed the price of gas imports from the European Union, but “for sure it won’t be cheaper than the Russian gas.”
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