Srbijagas: No Increase in Household Gas Prices

Dusan Bajatovic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

Srbijagas CEO Dusan Bajatovic said on July 20 that household gas prices would not go up, while businesses would purchase most of their gas under a new contract with Russia.

Bajatovic told the public broadcaster RTS that the price of Russian gas continued to be calculated according to an oil-linked formula, and that any increase could amount to up to 10 percent, provided that the price of oil did not exceed $100 per barrel. The head of the public gas utility explained that he expected the existing gas supply contract with Russia to be extended for the coming quarters.

According to Bajatovic, Serbia has secured sufficient gas reserves for the coming winter. “The Banatski Dvor storage facility currently holds 482 million cubic meters of gas, meaning that 93 percent of our commercial capacity is filled. The Russians have made part of their capacity available to us,” he said.

He also said that the storage facility in Hungary continued to be filled at a rate of between one million and 1.2 million cubic meters a day and that, if financial resources permitted, Srbijagas would continue increasing its reserves. Bajatovic explained that Serbia could procure gas through several routes - from Azerbaijan, Greece and Turkey, as well as via the North Sea - but that those supplies were significantly more expensive than Russian gas.