Serbia To Expand Gas Storage Capacities

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic on Monday said Serbia will try to expand the capacity of Banatski Dvor, its only gas storage, from 450 million to one billion cubic meters, to increase energy security.

According to Vucic, Serbia faces obstacles in finding different gas supply routes in order to avoid a gas shortage if Russia stops delivering gas through Ukraine in 2019, as Russian officials have announced.

Serbia uses about 2 billion cubic meters of gas a year and only produces about 20 per cent of that amount. The rest is imported from Russia via Ukraine and Hungary, which is currently the only gas supply route for Serbia.

The Prime Minister added that Serbian officials have discussed a potential gas inflow from Azerbaijan, as well as through the Russia-sponsored Turkish Stream pipeline and, finally, the US-backed project for a LNG terminal on the Croatian island of Krk, but no project was close to realization.

Vucic said it was not a question whether Serbia would prefer "Russian or American gas" but if it would be able to secure more gas at all.

"We have discussed 100 ways from where and how to get it. We do not know what will happen with the Ionian Adriatic pipeline or the LNG terminal on Krk or Turkish Stream - where we are going to take gas from," Vucic told a press conference.

Jelica Putnikovic, an energy expert in Belgrade, on Tuesday welcomed the government's intention to expand the storage capacities in Serbia.

"Serbia should not just expand the Banatski Dvor storage, it should build another one in order to increase its energy security. By building another gas storage, Serbia could have a chance to become an energy hub in the region and supply other countries with the gas," Putnikovic told BIRN.

She...