Azerbaijan suspended gas supplies to Serbia on Saturday. We can no longer count on the 1.7 million cubic meters of raw material that reached our country every day, announced the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, on Saturday.
– We received information from Azerbaijanthat due to problems on their side, from today we cannot count on the 1.7 million cubic meters of gas that reached our country every day, said Vucic. He added that Serbia will now have to use its reserves “much more seriously.”
Deliveries from Azerbaijan
Gas from Azerbaijan began to be delivered to Serbia at the end of 2023; This winter was supposed to be the first full heating season during which the country could count on Azerbaijani supplies. Serbian Energy Minister Dubravka Djedović Handanović said in September that “this winter, Serbia can count on safe supplies of more than one million cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan per day.”
The raw material was delivered to Serbia via a gas pipeline running through the neighboring country Bulgaria. Its construction was co-financed by EU funds. Until the connection was launched, Serbia was dependent on Russian gas. Less than 13% was covered from domestic production. needs, and the rest was imported exclusively from the Russian Federation.
Serbian Oil Industry (NIS) subject to sanctions
On Friday, the Serbian Oil Industry (NIS), the country's largest oil company, was placed under US sanctions as an entity controlled mostly by the Russian energy industry. Since 2008, Russian companies have been the majority shareholders of NIS Gazprom and Gazprom Neft – the oil arm of Gazprom, which owns approximately 96 percent. his shares.
President Vucic stated that day that “the US demands the complete withdrawal of Russian capital from the NIS.” – They do not allow the possibility of 49% falling into Russian hands. or less shares; The Russians must leave the company, he explained.
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