Serbia: The interconnector with Bulgaria is important for the country
Serbia, which is entirely dependent on Russian gas supplies, plans to buy gas from Azerbaijan in 2023. when we expect the interconnector to the Bulgarian pipeline to be completed.
This was said on Tuesday by the Minister of Energy of Serbia, Zorana Mihajlovic, quoted by “Reuters”.
, which hopes to help end Europe’s dependence on Russian gas. It will carry gas from the northern Greek city of Komotini to Stara Zagora in Bulgaria and will be connected to another pipeline carrying Azeri gas.
“This interconnector is for us a life force, the most important thing that Serbia is doing right now when we talk about gas diversification,” Mihajlovic said.
After the interconnector with Bulgaria is completed, Serbia will also be able to receive LNG from Greece, she added.
Serbia, which left its gas and oil sectors in the hands of Russian companies in 2008 but aims to join the low-lying bloc, has come under pressure from Western countries to align its foreign policy with the bloc and impose sanctions of Russia.
Mihailovich said that Serbia has not discussed a change of ownership in your only oil company, NIS, in which Russian majors Gazprom Neft and Gazprom jointly own a majority stake. Gazprom is the majority shareholder in the country’s only gas storage facility.
“We weren’t required to do that under one sanctions package,” she said. But if it comes to the point that energy security is threatened, the state will do everything to protect it.
Mihajlovic said NIS is looking to buy crude oil from available producers after Russian oil is added under sanctions and that it will order crude oil from Iraq.
She said Serbia you have to import 10% of electricity and that imports will grow to 20-30% in the winter months when you expect them to go up 15-20 percent.
Serbia, which produces 70% of its electricity from coal, will help state energy company EPS to import the 4 million tons of coal you will need by the first quarter freshman year, Mihajlovic said.