Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlovic said that the supply of natural gas to Serbia from Bulgaria has been normalized in the afternoon of 3 November, following a rupture of a gas pipeline in the Bulgarian territory in the early hours of 1 November.
Minister Mihajlovic stressed that such incidents underline the necessity to expand Serbia’s natural gas storage capacities and plan strategic reserves, as well as establishing a regional crisis plan.
According to her, the underground gas storage facility in Banatski Dvor should be expanded from 450 million to 800 million cubic meters within the next year, so that there would be strategic gas reserves and so that Serbia would not have to import gas in emergency situations.
She said that the issue of strategic reserves had been discussed for years, but that nothing has been done so far, adding that the technical problems on gas pipelines were regional and that it was important to have a joint crisis plan with Hungary and Bulgaria.
