New gas pipelines to ensure Serbian and Balkan supply diversification

• Serbia eyes new gas interconnectors with Romania and North Macedonia by 2030
• This could ensure domestic supply, serve as a transit route to Europe
• Srbijagas and Russia’s Gazprom in talks for a new long-term gas deal

WARSAW (ICIS)– Serbia plans to build gas interconnectors with Romania and North Macedonia, diversifying its own gas needs and supporting supply security in the Balkan region over the coming years, as indicated by the country’s energy strategy released on 10 June.

Balkan gas traders told ICIS that Serbia is expected to receive gas supplies from two routes: Romania’s Neptune Deep field and Azerbaijan.

“Having three different gas supply options will guarantee Serbia’s energy security and diversification,” a local trader said.

The government energy strategy released on 10 June said the country aims to build a 1.6 billion cubic meters (bcm)/year pipeline interconnection with Romania and 1.2bcm/year with North Macedonia.

Both projects should be operational by 2030 as the government seeks private funding to aid their development.

Serbia seeks to establish new supply routes: one from Greece’s new Alexandroupolis LNG terminal, where Serbian state supplier Srbijagas has booked 300 million cubic meters of capacity per year and a second from Romania’s Neptune Deep gas field.

The Romanian field is expected to have 100bcm in reserves with the first gas output expected in 2027.

“The North Macedonia route is expected to boost Azeri flows to Serbia and the region,” a second trader added.

Back in November 2023, Srbijagas and Azerbaijan’s SOCAR signed a one-year gas supply contract of up to 400mcm supplied in 2024 with an option for 1bcm/year volumes in the following years.

This winter Azeri gas flowed via the 1.8bcm/year Serbia-Bulgaria interconnector.

GAZPROM TALKS

Serbian gas supply will remain uninterrupted in the summer months thanks to the signing of a short-term gas deal with Russian producer Gazprom, the chief executive of Serbia’s incumbent Srbijagas, Dusan Bajatovic, said in a briefing on 27 May.

Srbijagas’s current three-year deal for 2.2bcm/year  of supply expired on 31 May and the two firms signed an agreement covering the period 1 June- 31 September 2025 for 6 million cubic meters/day.

Srbijagas and Gazprom are now negotiating a new long-term supply contract.