The agreement on the price of gas reached in Russia means energy stability and security, Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlovic told RTS. She said that the prices of gas and electricity for citizens will not change until the end of the heating season, while the price of electricity for the economy will be discussed with all economic entities individually, but that the price will not be higher than those on European stock exchanges.
The Minister of Mining and Energy, Zorana Mihajlović, said that the agreement on the price of gas reached in Russia is great and very important news.
“It’s not just a question of good relations between the two presidents and good political and economic relations. It means energy stability and security. It means that we not only have enough gas, but we have a secure gas supply, which I think is most important, not to we doubt that some crisis situation will happen, and that we do not have enough gas,” stated Zorana Mihajlović.
She added that this also means that gas prices for households will remain unchanged, and that it means security for the economy and that it is most important for investors to have enough energy sources that are most represented in their costs. Mihajlović also pointed out that stability could speed up gasification.
“Apart from the fact that we now know that we are calm and stable and have a secure gas supply, what is important now is also to do everything we can to expand our ‘Banatski dvor’, our underground gas storage, to invest money in it, to build another underground gas storage and that in the years ahead, not only for the next six months, we will be energy and gas stable. That certainly means economic growth and economic product growth,” Mihajlović said.
She pointed out that the price of gas of 270 dollars per thousand cubic meters, which Serbia received, is 3.6 times lower than the current price on stock exchanges in Europe.
“No other country has that. So, now is the time to fill our warehouses, and on the other hand to think long-term, to be energy secure, to expand warehouses, build new warehouses. These are those strategic reserves. It doesn’t have to be a problem on the territory of Serbia, we had a problem on the territory of Bulgaria two or three weeks ago, which is why we used gas from ‘Banatski dvor’,” stated Mihajlović.
She added that the strategic reserves concern the common policy of the entire region regarding the potential crises that will “certainly happen in the coming period”.
Asked whether Serbia will build or participate in the construction of a nuclear power plant, Zorana Mihajlović said that Serbia must build electricity capacities and that no such capacity has been built in 30 years.
“For everything that is in front of us, a huge increase in electricity consumption, we have to build new capacities. Large hydro, medium hydro, solar, wind and to sit down and think together whether we will and can have nuclear power plants. Is it a nuclear standard power plant or are they new modular, with new technologies, nuclear power plants and it is all possible. I think that in the coming period we will sit down and consider everything that can be done in our territory, as well as the potential for participation in the production of nuclear energy in another country,” Mihajlović pointed out.
She said that Serbia has enough potential to be able to produce as much electricity as it needs in the coming decades and that it should not import electricity.
The situation with electricity is difficult in the region, and restrictions are announced in Bosnia and Herzegovina due to the miners’ strike. Zorana Mihajlović said that it is very important for the energy system that block B1 in the “Nikola Tesla” Thermal Power Plant, since Serbia will no longer import electricity, and that that block produces about 15 percent of electricity, which represents additional stability.
Minister Zorana Mihajlović said that the prices of electricity for the economy after December 1 will not be the same as on the European stock exchanges, and that the Electric Power Industry of Serbia will discuss the price of electricity with all economic entities.
“There are no changes in the prices of electricity or gas for the citizens until the end of the heating season, that is for sure. We will talk to the economy individually and do everything so that the economy does not suffer the blows that the European Union suffers at the moment,” Mihajlović stressed, RTS reports.
