Storage as sole guarantee for secure gas supply – 430 million cubic meters in Banatski Dvor

The expansion of the underground gas storage Banatski Dvor and the establishment of new storage space is the only way for Serbia to make sure that it will have uninterrupted gas supply after 2019, when the supply from Russian through Ukraine will become uncertain, stated the assistant general manager for economics of Srbijagas, Milan Zdravkovic, yesterday.

Zdravkovic said that it was uncertain whether Serbia would be able to use the gas from the planned pipelines Tanap and Tap and to what extent. The pipelines are supposed to enable supply from the Caspian Sea and through Turkey. Zdravkovic also said that the pipelines would at best become available in 2020, a year after the onset of a possible supply crisis.

As he said, one of the interconnections needed for connecting Serbia to these projects is the Greece-Bulgaria interconnection, which will at best be completed around 2020. As for the other interconnection, Serbia-Bulgaria, negotiations with the European Commission on whether the decision on co-financing would be reached are expected to start soon.

Under such circumstances, the storage capacity needs to increase to secure the gas supply, he said and added that the plan was to double the capacity of Banatski Dvor. Zdravkovic mentioned Itebej and Tilva as the most realistic options for new storage space.

He said that the Banatski Dvor capacities were filled more than enough and that no problems were expected in the upcoming heating season. – In a technical sense, this is a serious guarantee that the gas supply on the territory of Serbia will be reliable – Zdravkovic said.

The provincial secretary for energy, Nenad Grbic, said that there were 430 million cubic meters of gas in Banatski Dvor, and up to 15 or 16 million cubic meters a day in extremely cold weather.

JP Srbijagas Novi Sad

EUROPEAN COMMISSION Bruxelles

Banatski Dvor gas storage

gas supply

Milan Zdravkovic

Tanap pipeline

Tap pipeline

Nenad Grbic