BAJATOVIC: Serbia to buy cheaper gas as of late March

(Dusan Bajatovic)

An agreement on the supply of Russian gas to Serbia in 2013, at a price of 370 to 380 US dollars per 1,000 cubic meters, should be signed March 27th, during the visit of a Russian delegation to Serbia, which will be headed by Chairman of the Gazprom Managing Board Alexei Miller.

In that way, Serbia could start buying cheaper gas as early as late March. The country is currently paying USD 420 for 1,000 cubic meters of gas, Srbijagas CEO Dusan Bajatovic announced.

Aside from large savings that Serbia will make owing to reduced gas prices, considering that we import about 90 percent of that fuel from Russia, Bajatovic told Tanjug news agency earlier that he expected the Serbian factories consuming large quantities of gas, such as Azotara, Petrohemija and Metanolsko-Sircetni Kombinat, to get additional discounts.

However, he reiterated that despite that price decrease, the economy and citizens as end-users couldn't expect the price of gas charged to them to go down because the price for consumers was already based on the purchase price of USD 350 for 1,000 cubic meters and was still about USD 50 lower than the market price.