Vucic: Serbia has signed a gas import agreement with Russia

Aleksandar Vucic, President of the Balkan nation, said that Serbia has secured three more months' worth of gas imports from Russia after talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

The cheaper imports of Russian natural gas?cover?up to 90%?of Serbia's need, although Belgrade has tried to diversify its supply by importing gas from Azerbaijan as well as liquefied gas from terminals located in Greece.

Vucic stated that he spoke with Putin by phone on Monday. The two discussed bilateral relations, economic cooperation and global developments.

Vucic, speaking to reporters in Belgrade, said: "It was extremely important to me and I thanked the President Putin for this three-month extension of the contract at very favorable terms."

He said that the extension maintained current volume and price conditions.

"We... pay between $320 to $330 (per 1000 cubic meters). The extension will be?6 millions cubic meters per day, and under the same conditions. "If more gas is needed, we'll have that flexibility," said he.

Vucic stated that prices would be index to crude oil benchmarks.

Vucic stated last month that Serbia as a candidate to join the EU wants to diversify their energy supply and move away from Russia. They also aim to secure around 20% of their needs through the EU's collective gas-buying program, which they joined last year.

The Iran war has caused Europe to have very little spare capacity over the past few weeks. Serbia reduced?excise duty on crude oil on March 20 to calm down the local market and counter the impact of?the war.

Serbia's Srbijagas utility imports gas from Russia’s Gazprom. The two companies jointly own a 450 mcm gas depot located in Banatski Dvor, a town in northern Serbia.

Serbia pays for additional gas storage in Hungary.

Gazprom and Gazprom own the majority of shares in Serbia's sanctioned NIS Oil?company, though they have to divest by May 22, 2009.

MOL, the Hungarian company and ADNOC from the UAE signed a deal on January 19, 2019 with Russian companies for them to purchase their NIS stakes. This agreement is subject to approval by Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. (Reporting and editing by Edward McAllister, Joe Bavier, and Aleksandar Vasovic)

(source: Reuters)