Mihajlovic: Gas Interconnection with Bulgaria a Priority, But Connections with Other Countries of the Region Important Too

The minister of mining and energy of Serbia, Zorana Mihajlovic, has stated that the construction of a gas interconnection with Bulgaria is a priority project, because Serbia thereby gained the option of gas supply from other suppliers as well, but also added that it is equally as important to connect with all countries of the region and build a new underground natural gas storage facility.

Mihajlovic stated for Euronews Serbia that sufficient quantities of gas would be secured for households and the economy and added that the Nis-Dimitrovgrad gas pipeline would be operational the next year and that Serbia would be able to get around 40% of the consumption from other suppliers.

– If we were to compare ourselves to many other countries of Europe, we would not be in a worse situation, although we are nearly 100% dependent on Russian gas. Germany is also fully dependent on Russia, which is a big mistake, and it doesn’t matter who the supplier is, the problem is being dependent on one supplier – Mihajlovic said.

As announced by the Ministry of Mining and Energy, she cited Azerbaijan and the LNG terminal as potential alternative sources of gas and pointed out that another goal was to connect with Croatia, which was expanding its Krk storage capacities, but also with Romania, whereby Serbia could be a transit country with a regional gas network.

Elektroprivreda Srbije ad Beograd

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Elektroprivreda Srbije

EPS

Gazprom

Ministry of Mining and Energy of Serbia

Zorana Mihajlović

construction of gas interconnection with Bulgaria

gas interconnection with Bulgaria

Niš Dimitrovgrad gas pipeline

LNG terminal

regional gas network

underground gas storage facility

power generation