Srbijagas, Serbia’s natural gas distributor, signed a contract with Austria’s Heat group to upgrade the Balkan country’s largest storage facility as it seeks to ensure supplies after disruptions in January.
The underground storage in the northern town of Banatski Dvor will have a daily output capacity of as much as 5 million cubic meters of gas after modernization, Chief Executive Officer Dusan Bajatovic said.
Serbia had to rely on gas supplies from Austria, Germany and Hungary during a January dispute between Russia and Ukraine that halted exports from Russia for almost two weeks. Work under the 5.5 million-euro ($7.2 million) storage contract should begin on April 13, Bajatovic said. “We should have a new storage that will be a safeguard in the event of another gas crisis,” Bajatovic said.
Srbijagas and the export unit of OAO Gazprom, Russia’s state-run gas producer, plan to sign an accord this month on setting up a joint venture to oversee construction of the South Stream pipeline in Serbia, Bajatovic said. “Talks are under way in Moscow on the terms of the future joint venture,” the chief executive said. Russia, which supplies a quarter of Europe’s gas, is seeking new routes to Europe after the price dispute with Ukraine.
(KATHIMERINI, 04/13/2009)