Serbia in talks with Azerbaijan to buy gas for next year

Serbian Power and Mining Minister Zorana Mihajlovic speaks to Reuters in Belgrade, Serbia, November 4, 2021. REUTERS/Branko Filipovic

SARAJEVO, July 12 (Reuters) – Serbia, which is totally depending on Russian fuel provides, plans to buy fuel from Azerbaijan in 2023 when it expects an interconnector to Bulgaria’s pipeline to be accomplished, Serbia’s power minister mentioned on Tuesday.

“We’re at present speaking to Azerbaijan to e book fuel capacities for the following 12 months as a result of the Serbia-Bulgaria interconnector will probably be accomplished subsequent 12 months in September,” Mihajlovic mentioned at an power convention in Sarajevo.

Final week, Greece and Bulgaria accomplished a long-delayed fuel pipeline which they hope can contribute to ending Europe’s dependence on Russian fuel. It’s going to carry fuel from the northern Greek metropolis of Komotini to Stara Zagora in Bulgaria and be linked to a different pipeline carrying Azeri fuel. learn extra

“This interconnector is for us like a lifeblood, an important what Serbia is at present doing after we speak about fuel diversification,” Mihajlovic mentioned.

As soon as the interconnector with Bulgaria is accomplished, Serbia may even be capable of get LNG from Greece, she added.

Serbia, which in 2008 put its fuel and oil sectors within the fingers of Russian firms however goals to hitch the European Union, has come underneath strain from Western nations to align its overseas coverage with the bloc and impose sanctions on Russia.

Mihajlovic mentioned Serbia had not mentioned an possession change in its sole oil firm NIS, wherein Russian majors Gazprom Neft (SIBN.MM) and Gazprom (GAZP.MM) collectively maintain a majority stake. Gazprom is majority shareholder within the nation’s sole fuel storage facility.

“We weren’t required to try this underneath any bundle of sanctions,” she mentioned. “But when it involves the purpose that power safety has been endangered, the state will do something to guard it.”

Mihajlovic mentioned that NIS has been trying to purchase crude oil from obtainable producers now that the Russian oil has been put underneath sanctions, and that it will order crude from Iraq.

She mentioned that Serbia has to import 10% of its electrical energy wants and that the imports will rise to twenty%-30% through the winter months, when costs are anticipated to go up 15%-20%.

Serbia, which produces 70% of its electrical energy from coal, will assist the state energy utility EPS to import 4 million tonnes of coal it can want by the primary quarter of the following 12 months, Mihajlovic mentioned.

Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Modifying by David Evans

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