The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, said that in the next six years, 12 billion euros will be invested in the country’s energy infrastructure, which will increase the investment program “Serbia 2025”.
– In the next six years, 12 billion euros will be invested in energy infrastructure, because energy is the lifeblood of the system – Vučić said in an address to the citizens at the Palace of Serbia.
He added that gas and electricity prices will not soon increase, and if they do, it will be within reasonable limits and will not represent a blow to the standard. Those prices, as he said, are subsidized from the budget.
He pointed out that Serbia will have to diversify its oil supply and that there have already been talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán about connecting to their oil pipeline in order to provide another direction, apart from the Adriatic oil pipeline for supply, and to be able to choose a lower transit fee. He also announced a plan to build an oil pipeline through North Macedonia to Durres in Albania.
According to the Government’s website, he stated that we will supply ourselves with oil in different ways during this period and added that we will buy Iraqi oil, which is 20% more expensive.
Vučić said that it will take between 18 and 24 months to build an oil pipeline to Hungary and announced that we will quickly start working on it in order to connect to the oil network of Hungary, whereupon quick talks with our other partners in the region will begin.
He added that the reserves of diesel for 75 days and gasoline for 59 days have been secured and that the construction of a new oil storage is planned and that there are two offers, the British one and the offer of a consortium of domestic companies.
As he said, electricity is not imported for ten days because it is a “stabilized system”. According to him, the plan is to build more gas interconnectors with neighboring countries.
He said that he had discussed with Orban that Serbia would become a co-owner of the Pax 1 and Pax 2 nuclear power plants and that this would be paid for with money or valorized by co-ownership in a Serbian company.
Vučić also said that it is being considered to introduce an extra tax to producers of RES electricity that have earned huge profits in the last year, and that some EU countries are also planning to do so, reports Beta.
Talking about oil storages, he added that Serbia is working on new oil storages, stating that there are two offers, one of which is from the British Vitol for 400 to 500,000 tons, and the other from a consortium of our oilmen for 200,000 tons.
He said that the British Vitol is asking for special conditions for arbitration, and that a consortium of our oilmen is offering to build a storage of 200,000 tons.
– We will make a decision about which offer is better. Just so you know that in 2021 we processed 3.6 million tons of oil in the Pancevo refinery, and in 2012 we processed 2.1 million tons, which is almost twice as much today – the president said, according to the Government’s website, Blic writes.
