Serbia’s energy ministry and the World Bank discussed the implementation and the financing of a planned 1 billion euro ($1.1 billion) program aimed at expanding and modernising the Southeast European country’s gas infrastructure, the energy ministry said on Tuesday.
The parties discussed the implementation dynamics, which includes the procedure for approving funding from the World Bank, as well as the establishment of a project implementation unit, the ministry said in a press release quoted by Seenews.
In the initial phase of the project, Serbia will build a section of a planned gas pipeline connecting the southeastern city of Nis with the central city of Velika Plana.
“The new gas pipelines that we build through this project will enable us to use the full potential of gas interconnections with neighboring countries, which means greater energy security, as well as strengthening our position as a transit country and gas hub in this part of Europe, which also brings higher revenues. The southern and eastern parts of the country will gain greater access to gas, which is important for the development of industry and attracting investment,” energy minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said.
The following phases of the programme will focus on raising the capacity of Serbia’s existing natural gas transportation network, construction of compressor stations, and expansion of the capacity of underground gas storage facilities.
Djedovic Handanovic said earlier that the project is in line with Serbia’s goal to build two gas interconnections – with North Macedonia and Romania – over the next two years,
Serbia receives most of its gas from Russia’s Gazprom via the TurkStream pipeline extension through Bulgaria, and also gets Azeri gas through the interconnector with Bulgaria.
State-owned gas importer and distributor Srbijagas operates a 6,633-km distribution network, comprising 600 km of medium-pressure and 6,033 km of low-pressure pipelines, serving more than 90,000 households, it says on its website. Its 2,230 km long gas transmission system has a capacity of 13 million cubic metres per day.