Djedovic Handanovic:Contract to build gas-fired power plant to be agreed by early May

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic met with a delegation of Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR in Belgrade on Tuesday to discuss a project to build a gas-fired power plant near Nis, and said she believed the terms of a contract to build the plant would be agreed by early May.

Among other matters, the contract will define the involvement and responsibilities of Serbia's national power company EPS, Srbijagas and SOCAR, and a joint venture will be set up for the project, Djedovic Handanovic said, adding that the plant was due to be completed by 2030.

"The main topic of today's meeting was an agreement on the commercial and technical terms of a contract to build a gas-fired power plant near Nis," the minister said, adding that "good progress has been made in a short period of time."

"Intensive work on agreeing the contract began immediately after an agreement between the governments of Serbia and Azerbaijan to build a gas-fired power plant in Serbia was signed in February in Belgrade, with the presidents of the two countries, Aleksandar Vucic and Ilham Aliyev, in attendance," Djedovic Handanovic said.

This week, an Azerbaijani delegation had a series of technical-level meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Mining and Energy, EPS and Srbijagas, an official statement quoted the minister as saying.

"Under all strategic documents, the gas-fired power plant project is envisioned as a capacity that is to ensure additional base energy to our electric power system and greater energy security, especially for industry in the south of Serbia," Djedovic Handanovic said.

She said a final decision on the plant's capacity would depend on the profitability of the investment, adding that approximately 500 MW of electric power capacity and some 150 MW of heat capacity were being considered.