Serbia to Work on Expanding Oil Storage Facilities – Focus on Hydro Power Plants, But Also Nuclear Reactors

According to the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia will have difficulties with oil, everybody is waiting for the sixth package of sanctions, and in the meantime, Serbia will work on expanding storage facilities by 200,000 tons, or by 21 days of the total consumption of diesel and petrol, which is the first phase, because the plan is to be expanded to a million tons for the needs for several months.

As he said, there are talks with companies which can build storage facilities quickly.

Vucic said that, regarding electrical energy, the biggest problem was the excavation of coal at Kolubara and that plenty of money needed to be invested in order to raise the production capacity from 60,000 tons to 75,000 tons, and then to 90,000 tons in order to secure enough power.

He said that one of the key reform tasks would be a new energy policy. At a press conference, he said that Serbia would have to have much more renewable energy sources.

– We have to be capable of taking energy from those renewable sources, which means that we have to build reversible power plants – Vucic said.

As he pointed out, Serbia should have the right of first refusal when it comes to the purchase of energy produced from renewable sources in its territory.

According to him, the reversible hydro power plants Bistrica and Djerdap 3 need to be built, and there will also be talk about modular nuclear reactors, which could be a “salvation” for Serbia.

According to him, Serbia has the lowest price of electricity in Europe.

He said that he would soon start the negotiations about the procurement of gas with Gazprom and added that Serbia was 100% dependent on Russian gas and that it would remain so for at least two years and maybe even more.

Vucic said that the supplies at the storage facility in Banatski Dvor amounted to 129 million cubic meters of gas and another 123 million in the Russian part, and that the capacity of the storage facility was 450 million cubic meters. In the winter, he said, 12 to 15 million cubic meters of gas were spent, but the problem was that, technically, only five million could be sucked out, making Serbia fully dependent on the import of gas.

According to him, the difference in the price of gas in the market and according to the oil formula is EUR 1.1 billion a year.

– According to the oil formula, gas costs USD 417 to 482 for 1,000 cubic meters, which is a “decent” price, but last winter, Serbia paid USD 2,000 for 1,000 cubic meters in the market for additional amounts – Vucic said.

He added that he was going “in good faith to the talks with Gazprom about gas supply, in order to come up with a good agreement by the end of May”.

He pointed out that Serbia would continue diversifying gas supply.

According to him, Serbia has enough food for its needs, and even for the region.

Predsedništvo Republike Srbije

Presidency of Serbia

Aleksandar Vučić

Kolubara

Banatski Dvor

sanctions

storage expansion

reversible hydro power plant Bistrica

Đerdap 3

modular nuclear reactors

import of gas