Bajatovic: Gas deal with Russia extended for three more months

BELGRADE - Srbijagas CEO Dusan Bajatovic said on Wednesday Serbia's natural gas deal with Russia had been extended for three more months and that he expected it to also be extended until the New Year.

"I have not announced this yet although it has already happened - we have now extended the gas arrangement for the next three months and we will soon extend it until the New Year," Bajatovic, who is a Socialist Party of Serbia MP, said in the parliament during a debate on government guarantees for Srbijagas liabilities, criticised by opposition parties.

"There are no investments without gas," Bajatovic said, adding that, unless some projects in the gas sector were completed, including interconnectors with Romania and North Macedonia and supply routes and storage facilities shared with Hungary, the price of gas would rise by a minimum of 40 pct.

"If we listen to some analysts and import it from the German coast, it will be 80 pct more expensive. I think that, if you look at the European agenda, all those transmission stations and gas pipelines are on the European agenda and are the conditions, among other things, for opening Cluster 3 (in Serbia's EU accession talks)," Bajatovic said.

"Europe is requesting all that," he added.