Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mining and Energy, Zorana Mihajlovic said that the supply of gas through the Balkan Stream is stable and that, for now, there are no announcements about the interruption of gas supplies from Bulgaria. Nevertheless, the government will launch a crisis plan if that happens.
“Serbia regularly receives the agreed quantities of gas through the Balkan Stream through Bulgaria, which is a transit country and whose gas supply has been suspended,” she said, as a guest on RTS. “For now, everything is normal, which does not mean that we are not ready for every situation. We have been preparing for every situation for months. There are no announcements, we are in contact with the Bulgarian side, but it does not mean that it cannot happen that Bulgaria, since it is 100 per cent dependent on Russian gas, decides to take over part of the transit for itself.”
Minister Mihajlovic said that the country is ready, which means that it has gas in the underground storage in Banatski Dvor for more than a month. The other option of the crisis plan is a substitution, most often it is fuel oil or supply restrictions.
“The third thing is that the Russian partners continue the delivery through Hungary,” she added. “In any case, we are ready for any kind of scenario at the moment of the energy-political crisis.”
Currently, Serbia gets 6 million cubic metres (bcm) of gas in the Balkans, with recent consumption of around 5 million cubic metres (mcm). However, in the winter months the consumption will be between 11 and 15 mcm a day.
“We are working on preparations for the winter season, which will not be easy for anyone in Europe, especially not for countries that are 100 per cent dependent on Russian gas, such as us,” the Minister concluded.
Finally, she mentioned alternative routes such as the free capacities of Transgaz in the Balkan Stream of about 10 per cent, which is close to half of Serbia’s annual consumption.
