Slovakia in talks with Gazprom to surge Russian gas imports as Middle East crisis triggers global supply shock

Slovakia's SPP negotiates a surge in Gazprom imports amid a 50% spike in EU gas prices caused by the Qatar LNG shutdown and the Iran-Israel conflict.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 6, 2026, 9:38 AM EST

Negotiations for full dependence

Slovakia’s state-owned gas supplier, SPP, is currently in high-stakes negotiations with Gazprom to amend its long-term contract, which extends until 2034. Sources indicate that if successful, these talks could see Slovakia return to sourcing 100% of its natural gas from Russia by 2027. This marks a sharp reversal from 2025, when Russian imports fell to just one-third of Slovak demand after the termination of the Ukrainian transit route in December 2024. Despite the looming EU-wide ban on Russian gas scheduled for late 2027, the Slovak government, led by Prime Minister Robert Fico, has argued that Russian pipeline gas remains the most "economically advantageous" option for the country's industry and households.

Infrastructure and transit shifts

Since the closure of the Brotherhood pipeline through Ukraine, Slovakia has been forced to reroute its Russian supplies through the TurkStream pipeline via Türkiye, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Hungary. However, current pipeline capacity has restricted these volumes to less than half of domestic demand. To accommodate the proposed increase, Hungary and Slovakia recently signed an agreement to expand their cross-border gas transmission capacity at the Vel'ké Zlievce/Balassagyarmat point by 25%, raising it to 4.38 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year. This expansion is seen as a critical "lifeline" for Slovakia to bypass the missing Ukrainian route and secure higher volumes before stricter EU regulations take effect.

Impact of the Qatar LNG shutdown

The urgency of the Slovak-Gazprom talks has been underscored by a massive disruption in the global energy market. This week, Qatar declared force majeure and halted all LNG production at its Ras Laffan facility—the world's largest—following an Iranian drone strike. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed to traffic, approximately 20% of the global LNG supply has been removed from the market overnight. European gas prices (Dutch TTF) surged from €31/MWh to over €48/MWh as competition for the remaining Atlantic Basin supply intensified. For landlocked nations like Slovakia, the fragility of the global LNG market has reinforced a political preference for stable, albeit controversial, Russian pipeline gas.