With the completion of the construction of the Balkan Stream gas pipeline, through which gas from Russia and Turkey, through Bulgaria and Serbia, reaches Hungary, our country has become a transit and important gas hub, from which we will have multiple benefits. First of all, a secure and stable gas supply during the global gas crisis, competitive prices, we will charge a transit fee. But, above all, we will be someone through whom the Central European countries will be supplied with gas, which has not been the case so far. This is another confirmation of how good and smart the decision of Gazprom was to build this gas pipeline together, Dusan Bajatovic, General Manager of Srbijagas, says.
– Thanks to this project, we will be able to use all resources in the region, to unite and commercialize them. That is why this interconnector is even more important to us. With this, we are freeing the route through Horgos, we can expand further and become an open market like Hungary, because it is a matter of a new direction, new diversification and new opportunities – says Bajatovic.
What lies ahead for our country is the negotiation of a new gas price at the beginning of next year. In order for Serbia to achieve the best price again, talks on that, as confirmed by the President of Serbia himself, Aleksandar Vucic, will be held at the highest level between him and President Vladimir Putin. Those familiar with the gas sector expect that when negotiating the new price, the oil formula will be taken into account, ie the movement of the price of crude oil in the previous nine months, and not the stock market price of gas, which in recent days went above 1,900 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters.
The reason to believe more in achieving a decent gas price for our country is the important geostrategic position we have, because without Bulgaria as the first, but also Serbia as the second country, this fuel would not be available to other European countries. At this hour, Serbia pays around 270 dollars for 1,000 cubic meters, which enables Srbijagas not to raise the price of gas for households. As the first man of Srbijagas has already confirmed, this price will remain the same until the end of the heating season.
– Part of the costs will be transferred to Srbijagas itself, but the citizens will not have a higher price of gas, and no one will freeze – says Bajatovic.
What is additionally important is that in addition to the regular quantities that arrive through the Balkan Stream when there is little gas, Serbia also has a gas storage Banatski Dvor. So, in addition to the pipes, there is gas in the reserves.
Srecko Djukic, an advocate of various gas sources, says that in the true sense of the word, Serbia has not yet become a gas hub, since Russian gas is transited from our country only to Hungary. We hope that in the near future, gas from the Turkish or Balkan Stream will flow at least to Bosnia and Herzegovina, maybe to Croatia and some other neighbors.
– Extremely high prices of natural gas, which in some moments of the current crisis ranged up to 2,000 dollars per thousand cubic meters, refer to the gas sold on gas exchanges, or gas spot market, while gas prices are based on long-term concluded contracts related to the movement of oil prices (“oil formula”) significantly lower, up to 500 dollars. European consumers preferred, in addition to gas exchange prices, combined gas prices, so that the price is from 75 to 80 percent of the price according to the “oil formula”, and from 20 to 25 percent of the price of natural gas from the stock exchange – he says.
Opponents of the construction of the Balkan Stream, as well as the much larger unrealized gas pipeline South Stream, are outside the Balkans. The main purpose of building the gas pipeline along this route is to diversify the supply routes of (Russian) gas in order to increase the level of energy security of both Serbia and other countries on that move.
– But as soon as the Balkan Stream was completed, it started supplying neighboring Hungary with gas through Serbia, Gazprom turned off the gas taps from Ukraine along the earlier route. Thus, Serbia is again supplied with gas in only one direction – Russian, and Hungary now depends on gas and gas pipelines from Serbia, as the situation has been the other way around for decades. Otherwise, if there was no “Turkish-Balkan flow”, the gas pipeline would work along the old route through Ukraine and Hungary – Djukic points out.
He adds that no one doubts the potential of Gazprom, however, the depth of the energy crisis undoubtedly points to the conclusion that alternatives must be sought in terms of supplying Europe with natural gas.
– Europe already depends on Russian gas with 40 percent. Gas supply is a matter of security. Therefore, liquefied natural gas will continue to grow in total gas consumption in Europe. Alternative routes and sources of gas supply to Europe (Southern Gas Corridor, Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, North Africa) will be rapidly strengthened. And what is especially important – Europe is accelerating the transition to “green energy”, climate neutral, abandoning carbon fuels, switching to various types of alternative energy, followed by the return of nuclear energy, switching to sergeant as a completely clean fuel.
– The gas connection between Nis and Sofia is being built with the financial participation of the EU of around 25 million euros. While the entire gas pipeline through Serbia costs 86 million euros with a capacity of about 1.8 billion cubic meters of gas per year. In connection with the Bulgarian gas system, Serbia will in principle buy any gas that comes to the market of neighboring Bulgaria, Russian, Azerbaijan, Cypriot, or liquefied gas from the terminals in Thessaloniki and Alexandroupolis – he says.
On the other hand, Vojislav Vuletic, the president of the Gas Association of Serbia, says that this gas crisis has confirmed that the only things we can believe in and when to rely on are Russia and Russian gas.
– And it definitely has no alternative. If not, then where is that strong gas from Azerbaijan, from Cyprus, Krk, from the USA – he asks and says that these are just empty wishes of Europe to reduce its dependence on Gazprom, but again they did not succeed. Reality denied them, and Gazprom’s monopoly, which Europe envies, proved to be the most favorable for Serbia – our interlocutor concludes, Politika reports.
