PM Fico: Oil Emergency Might End on 8 April

Bratislava, 1 April (TASR) - The state of emergency in Slovakia concerning oil could be lifted next Wednesday, 8 April, if the Slovnaft refinery returns the borrowed state oil to the state material reserves, stated Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) during a briefing with Economy Minister Denisa Sakova (Voice-SD) at the Bratislava refinery following a joint meeting with Slovnaft representatives. "We've agreed with the refinery's representatives that there will be another working meeting on Wednesday [8 April] of next week. Slovnaft borrowed 250,000 tonnes of crude oil from the state reserves, of which it's used about 105,000 tonnes, and it's gradually returning it," said the prime minister. "As soon as the moment comes when our state reserves are full again, so that we'll meet the EU requirement to be prepared for 90 days, we are ready in the government to cancel the state of emergency concerning oil. We had to declare it in order to provide the oil loan to Slovnaft," he noted. According to Fico, this doesn't affect the government regulation on dual pricing and restrictions on diesel purchases. "We'll let that regulation run until the end of its 30-day period," he said. He added that the government wants in part to respond to requests from neighbouring countries, such as the Czech Republic, which on Tuesday (31 March) asked Slovakia to lift the oil emergency. mf/df