Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said at the World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul that the country is planning to expand the capacity of the Banatski Dvor underground gas storage to one billion cubic meters in the long term.
President Vucic explained that by increasing the capacity of the storage facility, Serbia will be able to guarantee the supply of natural gas to consumers even in case of political tensions or a shortage of deliveries.
In early June, Serbian state-owned gas distributor Srbijagas and Russian gas company Gazprom have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the expansion of underground gas storage facility in Banatski Dvor at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg. The statement from Gazprom said that this MoU envisages the possibility of the capacity of Banatski Dvor gas storage to 750 million cubic meters, from current 450 million. The signed document also provides for the preparation of the technical and financial feasibility studies for the expansion of the facility.
Gazprom is the majority owner of Banatski Dvor underground gas storage with 51 % stake, while the remaining 49 % is owned by Srbijagas, In 2016, Gazprom delivered a total 1.75 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Serbia, which is 4.3 % more than in 2015.
Gazprom also said that its natural gas deliveries to Serbia in the January-May 2017 period has increased by 42.2 % compared to the same period last year, without disclosing the exact volume of its gas exports to Serbia.