Serbia already receiving offers for gas pipeline

Nine companies have appeared at the public call for reservation of the capacity of the „New Gas and Transport System“, which Serbia is developing from the Bulgarian to the Hungarian border.

Although bids are non-binding, for the Government, this is a good signal of the justification of the investment, and as RTS finds out, the required quantities of gas that would arrive by this pipeline would exceed six times our annual consumption.

The gas pipeline project is operated by Gastrans, the former company of South Stream Serbia, and non-binding offers for the reservation of its capacities have been given to them by domestic and companies from the surrounding area.

By the end of June, market and cost analysis needs to be completed and the neighbors’ opinions – those of Bulgaria and Hungary – need to be collected.

„It is to be expected that they will also give a positive opinion. This non-binding test showed very good parameters, it would be possible to expect a new call for binding capacity leases in the third quarter, „said Minister of Mines and Energy Aleksandar Antic.

Serbia spends around two and a half billion cubic meters of gas annually, and on the basis of the bids received, another 15 billion cubic meters of gas will arrive in the country, which requires a capacity of 42 million cubic meters of gas per day.

„If we compare this with the existing intake we have from Hungary, it is about three times higher, because the capacity that is possible from the Hungarian direction is about 13 million cubic meters of natural gas per day,“ explains Aca Vuckovic from the Energy Agency.

Experts expect a much higher capacity as gas consumption is growing. Since the beginning of the year, only Gazprom has increased its deliveries to European consumers by 6.3%.

„With us, it seems, the industrial production is starting to grow and we will definitely need more gas. The construction of a gas pipeline, which would go from the Bulgarian border to Hungary, which would tie in, possibly, to the Turkish Stream for Serbia, would be very useful and necessary, „said Voja Vuletic of the Gas Association.

The new gas pipeline also counts on gas inflows from other sources, as Serbia and Bulgaria are also working on gas connections from Nis to Sofia.

Izvor: RTS

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