The situation in Eastern Europe, the tension between Russia and Ukraine this time, will not, as ten years ago, have a negative impact on the supply of natural gas to Serbia, because a lot has changed.
Namely, natural gas from Russia is now arriving on the domestic market from another direction, and Serbia also has an underground gas storage. Let us remind you, ten years ago, gas arrived in Serbia via Ukraine, after the supply of Europe was interrupted, Serbia was left completely without natural gas, and then it procured it from underground storage facilities in Europe.
According to the words of the President of the Assembly of the Gas Association, Vojislav Vuletić, the supply of Serbia with natural gas from Russia is regular, and this energy source is coming to our country through the Balkan Stream.
– Our country has enough natural gas, and all quantities come from Russia through the Balkan Stream gas pipeline, whose capacity is 15 billion cubic meters per year, and about 2.2 billion cubic meters are consumed on our market annually – says Vuletić. – Due to the current situation in Eastern Europe, we should not expect any disruptions in the supply of our market with natural gas, and it is also important that there are about 150,000,000 cubic meters of our gas in the underground warehouse in Banatski Dvor.
Current price until the end of June
That the agreement / contract on the current price of natural gas for Serbia is valid until the beginning of June, said the general director of PE “Srbijagas” Dusan Bajatovic. According to him, 60 percent of the quantity costs 270 dollars for 1,000 cubic meters, while the rest is bought from the Russians at the stock exchange price, and from traders at a higher price for the commission. He pointed out that negotiations with the Russians on a new gas contract, which he hopes will be concluded for at least 10 years, will begin soon. He did not specify how much the new price of 1,000 cubic meters of gas will be, but he estimated that it could be at least 30 percent lower than the current market price of gas.
He points out that Serbia has a contracted supply of natural gas by the end of May this year.
– Then the valid contract on supplying our market with natural gas from Russia expires, and until then the current price of 270 dollars for 1,000 cubic meters is valid. After that, a new supply contract will have to be signed, and I expect it to be a long-term contract again – says Vuletić.
He points out that it is best to sign a long-term contract with a reliable supplier – “Gazprom”, because that provides the best conditions.
Those countries that do not have or have not had signed long-term contracts for the supply of gas from Russia now have to pay a high price for natural gas, which is now around $ 950 per 1,000 cubic meters. A few months ago, the price was higher than 1,000 dollars, and as things stand now, it could be higher than that, because there were announcements from Russia that 1,000 cubic meters could cost around 2,000 dollars – says Vuletić.
Therefore, the supply of our market is regular and certain, and it is certain that, after the heating season, natural gas in Serbia will be more expensive. How much – it’s hard to say. According to Vuletic, the price of gas for Serbia from June will be very difficult to predict. Namely, he pointed out that it could still be done while the price of gas was calculated using the oil formula, but now it cannot be said whether it will continue to be done that way or the price will be formed on the stock exchange, Dnevnik writes.
