BAJATOVIC: Serbia has no alternative to Russian gas

Dusan Bajatovic (Photo: mc.rs)

Srbijagas CEO Dusan Bajatovic said that the South Stream project was dead and that the gas pipeline as such was not going to be built, but he also voiced his belief that the gas from Russia would sooner or later find its way to Serbia via another route.

Bajatovic told TV N1 that Russia had given up the South Stream project, but he also stressed that Serbia had no alternative to the Russian gas.

According to him, Serbia invested EUR 30 million in South Stream, and the fate of that money will be known upon the launch of the Tesla project.

Bajatovic also voiced his opinion that the money invested in a joint project with the shared risk would not be returned to Serbia, but he insisted that we still had benefits from the energy agreement with Russia which he said should not be questioned.

He announced that Banatski Dvor gas storage would be expanded and that the costs of that expansion would not financed by Srbijagas but Banatski Dvor from its own resources.

He added that the price of gas would not go up, stressing that Serbia was among the countries with the lowest price of gas.