Pipeliners

30 April 2009 - B92 News - BELGRADE, NOVI SAD - A contract for forming a joint company between Srbijagas and Russian Gazprom will probably be signed on May 14, says Srbijagas CEO Dušan Bajatović. Bajatović told daily Dnevnik that as well as the contract and the joint company’s statute, an annex would also be signed governing relations between the partners, whereby no decision could be taken without Srbijagas or the Serbian government’s say-so. He said that the South Stream pipeline was due for completion in late 2015, with the first delivery of gas to arrive in the first few days of 2016. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has confirmed that Russia and Bulgaria have reached an agreement to build the pipeline. Bajatović said earlier that someone would have to pay for the EUR 100mn in gas losses incurred—either the citizens or the state. According to the Srbijagas CEO, the losses were not the fault of the company leadership, but the disparity between the purchasing and sale price, as gas was being sold at a loss. He said that he expected gas prices to be lower in the third quarter of this year, in line with the fall on world markets, but that the most pressing matter was to resolve the problem of losses and debts among the biggest consumers. “Work on the gas reservoir at Banatski Dvor is under way, and filling should begin in July. We’ll collect enough gas by the start of the heating season to be able to draw five million cubics a day for up to two months,“ Bajatović told daily Dnevnik.