Srbijagas Plans Construction of Another Three New Storage Facilities and Two Gas Interconnectors

To representatives of EU states, Srbijagas presented the plans of gas-related investments, with the potential support of Brussels, in Nis. Serbia is playing an increasingly important role in the regional supply.

In a year and a half, it will also get a state-of-the-art laboratory, the fourth in Europe for the measuring of the quality and flow of gas. The gas interconnector built with the support of the European Union started working last year and provided Serbia with a supply alternative, so an increase of the capacities is announced as well.

– It is very important economically and politically for the protection of the energy needs of the Serbian industry and households and for reducing the dependence on one supplier. With this investment, the European Union confirmed the importance it places on energy transition and decarbonization in Serbia – said the head of European Integration, Economic and Trade Section at the EU Delegation to Serbia, Andrea Hochhuber.

At Srbijagas, they expect further support as well, because Serbia has all the capacities to be an important transit route on the South Gas Corridor. Along with the expansion of the Banatski Dvor storage facility, the plan is to build another three new storage facilities and two gas interconnectors.

– Nis-Macedonian border. The colleagues from Greece have told us that the gas pipeline from Greece to North Macedonia is already being built, so I believe that this interconnector will be operational as well in a year and a half. We have mentioned that we are beginning to build the interconnector toward Romania. It’s only six kilometers, but it needs to be built from Belgrade in order for it to be functional – says the CEO of Srbijagas, Dusan Bajatovic.

The import of Russian gas to the European Union has dropped from 40% to 8%. The NordStream gas pipelines have been disabled, and if Ukraine does not extend the transit agreement by the end of the year, the supply via that route will stop as well. So, the South Gas Corridor and supply from the LNG terminal and Azerbaijan are being increasingly counted on.

– Europe has freed itself from dependence on Russian gas to a considerable extent. Europe imports gas from Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has an energy deal with Russia, so maybe there are alternative routes for Russian gas to reach Europe – said the economist Ivan Ostojic.

This week, the European Commission invited the members to continue limiting the consumption of gas to 15%, which has been in effect for two years now, except that the recommendation is that this is on a voluntary basis. The experts estimate that this indicates that the energy crisis is not about to end.

JP Srbijagas Novi Sad

Delegacija Evropske unije u Republici Srbiji Beograd

European Union

European Commission

European Integration Economic and Trade Section at the EU Delegation to Serbia

Srbijagas

LNG terminal

EU Delegation to Serbia

Andrea Hochhuber

Ivan Ostojic

Dusan Bajatovic

South Gas Corridor

NordStream

gas interconnector

Banatski Dvor storage facility

Brussels

laboratories for measuring gas quality and flow

gas supply

industry

households

Russian gas

gas pipelines