The presidents of Serbia and Russia, Aleksandar Vucic and Vladimir Putin, agreed to extend the gas agreement between the two countries, but the details of the agreement are yet to be specified, the CEO of “Serbiagaz“ said this morning Dusan Bayatovic, speaking on Serbian national television RTS, writes BTA.
“We essentially agreed to continue cooperation and it should amount to two and a half billion cubic meters, instead of two, as it was on an annual basis so far“, Bayatovic said.
According to him, the agreement should be signed by the end of May.
“The two presidents agreed on an extension and now we need to agree on details, which have some commercial challenges, but there are also security-related ones“, he stressed.
According to him, the problem is not so much in the amount of gas, but in flexibility.
“Serbia has started consuming 18 million cubic meters per day in the colder winter days. "We have agreed on additional quantities of up to four million flexibly per day, which means we will have eight from Russia, plus four," he said.
Bajatović pointed out that Serbia will store 200 million cubic meters of gas in Hungary for security reasons.
“Also, in the cold days, from November 15 to the end of February or March 15, we will buy up to two million from Azerbaijan“, he revealed.
Bajatović also commented on the prices of the new agreement.
“As for the price, the basic formula for these eight million (daily) will certainly include the oil formula. This turned out to be the right decision in the long run," he said.
The biggest problem is the additional quantities, warned Bayatovic, stating that everyone wants to buy Russian gas no matter what they say.
Regarding the agreement between Serbia and Russia, Bayatovic said that Serbia wants a period of 10 years and that an agreement will probably be reached.
“We can get 10 years, but we need to discuss what the Russian risks are and what the risks are for the Serbian side,“ he pointed out.
As for the price of gas for the population, Bayatovic says that it will certainly not change.