Eustream, which transits gas through Slovakia, has posted a loss for the first time in years, Denník Postoj reports.
At the same time, the state lost an important source of income. The reason is simple: the EU has decided to refuse Russian blue fuel, and the Slovaks’ gold mine has dried up. Eustream is responsible for gas transit through Slovakia. Because of the European Union’s decision to refuse Russian gas, the company showed a loss for the first time.
If there was a company in Slovakia that guaranteed to make profit by the end of the year and always paid considerable taxes to the state, it was Eustream, the operator of the gas pipelines leading through Slovakia, according to Denník Postoj.
The company was formed after the demerger of the gas company SPP (“Slovak Gas Industry”) and has always generated hundreds of millions in revenue since the beginning. No changes were expected in the future.
The business model was very profitable. The gas pipeline network in Slovakia had been built under deep socialism, and it took very little money to maintain it. Russian gas companies, as well as their customers, paid fees for transit through Slovak territory. In 2020, for example, Eustream’s revenue reached almost 750 million euros and profit 360 million.
However, as the latest annual report showed, the always profitable company showed a loss of more than 12.6 million euros for the first time, Denník Postoj reports.
There is nothing surprising here. All this is a direct consequence of the armed conflict in Ukraine and the associated restrictions on Russian gas consumption.
Shortly after the war in Ukraine started, the European Union countries decided to free themselves from energy dependence on Russia, which they managed to do quite successfully thanks to the growing number of LNG terminals. It is enough just to look at some figures concerning gas transit through Slovakia.
In the fiscal year from August 2019 to July 2020, Eustream pumped almost 61 billion cubic metres of gas. From 2022 to 2023, this volume dropped to less than 17 billion cubic metres. The volume has thus decreased by almost two-thirds, Denník Postoj reports.
The state holds a 51 per cent stake in Eustream, with the rest controlled by the ERN group of Czech entrepreneur Daniel Kršetinsky. The state budget has been supplemented by Eustream in several ways. Firstly, Eustream pays a hefty income tax and also regularly pays the state dividends from its profits. Last year, Eustream paid 111 million euros in taxes, and in 2020 its tax contribution will reach 150 million. This is why for a long time Eustream topped the list of companies that pay the most taxes in Slovakia.
The amount of dividends paid depended on profits, but usually reached 200 million per year. In addition, Eustream is also subject to the obligation to pay a special levy on regulated industries, which means it also generated revenue for the state. Now the company is at a loss, and the state will suffer greatly, losing an important source of revenue.
