Srbijagas CEO: Serbia to raise imports of Russian natural gas

BELGRADE, Dec 18 (PRIME) -- Serbia wants to raise supplies of Russian natural gas and takeoffs from the underground gas storages, it counts on cooperation with gas giant Gazprom, Dusan Bajatovic, CEO of Serbian gas provider Srbijagas and deputy chairman of the country’s Socialist Party, told PRIME on December 16.

“We would like to increase the amount of gas we purchase from Russia, it is the only affordable gas there is now,” he said.

Expansion of the existing underground gas storage Banatski Dvor and construction of two more storages should ensure storage of 2.5–3 billion cubic meters of natural gas in Serbia. The country’s consumption already exceeds 3 billion cubic meters per year, and construction of new thermal power plants would add even more. The country wants to cooperate with Gazprom in that, he said.

Serbia expects Gazprom’s gas exports to the country to rise to 2.4–2.6 billion cubic meters per year from 2 billion cubic meters per year. The pricing formula that ties the gas price to the oil price makes Gazprom’s natural gas the cheapest energy in Europe with a price of around U.S. $300 per 1,000 cubic meters, Bajatovic said.

There is no mid-term or long-term solution for Europe to ensure its natural gas consumption without Russia.

“Azerbaijan would have to receive guarantees for gas purchases for the next 15 years to invest and raise its gas production to 36 billion cubic meters per year from 18 billion cubic meters. The U.S. would also demand long-term contracts for supplies of its LNG (liquefied natural gas) as they would have to build new carriers and launch new productions of shale gas. All of that needs time,” he said.

Serbia does not support the anti-Russian sanctions because it would mean that the country loses everything and gains nothing instead.

“The West fooled us with the implementation of the 1244 resolution of the U.N. Security Council on the settlement in Kosovo, it fooled us with the Dayton Agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina, they fooled Russia with the Minsk Agreements, and they did the same to Libya, Iraq, and many other countries. We can’t trust them, but we can trust Russia,” Bajatovic said.

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