Slovak gas importer says Russian deliveries drop 25 percent on Tuesday

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Slovak gas importer SPP reported a 25 percent reduction in gas supplies from Russia via Ukraine on Tuesday, the biggest drop since a decline in deliveries was first reported last week. SPP spokesman Peter Bednar said the fall was from what the company had requested from Russia's Gazprom for deliveries for Tuesday. "SPP today reports an almost 25 percent drop in gas supply," Bednar said in an emailed statement. "Despite that, we want to assure our customers that the situation has no impact on supplies to our entire customer base. Continuous and stable supplies for our customers remain fully guaranteed." Bednar said SPP's storage was nearly full, with close to 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas. Poland, Romania and Austria have reported in the past week a reduction in supplies from Russia, which is embroiled in a row with the European Union over the Ukraine crisis. Polish gas pipeline operator Gaz-System said on Tuesday the country received about 19 million cubic meters of gas on Monday from the eastern direction, less than about 20 mcm on Sunday. Gazprom said on Tuesday it was fully meeting gas demand from European clients. Data from Slovak gas pipeline operator Eustream has shown that daily gas deliveries entering Slovakia from Ukraine have fallen about 17 percent from levels of previous days, representing the lowest volumes since at least 2011. Other data showed an increase in recent flows through an alternative pipeline from the Czech Republic, indicating a preference by Russia to circumvent Ukraine. On Tuesday, nominations for the amount of Russian natural gas entering Slovakia from Ukraine were set at 49.6 million cubic meters, Eustream's website showed. (Reporting by Jason Hovet, Editing by Michael Kahn and Dale Hudson)