Serbian Energy Minister: "Access to Azerbaijani Gas is Priority for Serbia"
On December 13, Serbian Energy Minister Dubravka Đedović Negre said that access to Azerbaijani gas is a priority for Serbia.
"When the global energy crisis began, many European countries, including Serbia, faced the problem of insufficiently diversified routes and suppliers. This would be unfavorable even in the absence of a crisis. In the current conditions in Europe, this poses a serious risk to energy security, which in turn is increasingly becoming a matter of national security. Access to other gas suppliers, primarily Azerbaijani gas, is a priority for us, and we are already actively working on this," the head of the Serbian Ministry of Energy said.
She stated that the construction of gas infrastructure is necessary for delivering natural gas from Azerbaijan to Serbia. "This year, Serbia started construction of a gas interconnector with Bulgaria, which should be completed in the last quarter of next year. This will allow us to connect with the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline in the first quarter of 2024, through which natural gas is supplied to Greece. Then, through the recently opened Greece-Bulgaria interconnector, this energy source will also reach our market," the Minister said.
As previously reported by Caucasus Watch, in a one-on-one meeting in Belgrade with Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijani President, regarding energy issues, Vučić said, "When it comes to gas production and export, Azerbaijan is a powerful country. After seven, eight, and ten years, Azerbaijan will export more than 35 billion cubic meters of gas. Today, gas export is about 22 billion cubic meters. More than half of this volume is It is transported to European countries. That is why we are working on creating an interconnector between Serbia and Bulgaria to supply the significant volumes of gas exported by our friends in Baku."
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