Serbia has managed to reach a compromise deal on gas supplies with Russia. The new contract allows the Balkan nation to keep purchasing Russian gas at a bargain price despite the severe gas crunch in Europe.
The deal, which is the renewal of a previous contract, was agreed during a meeting on Thursday between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. The existing deal, signed back in 2013, expires at the end of this year.
“We managed to get, … for the next six months, a gas price of an incredible $270, so our price doesn’t change. We also got an increase in the amount of gas in those six months and … flexibility [in monthly supplies], about which I asked President Putin in particular,” Vucic told journalists after the meeting.
Serbia imports nearly all of its gas from Russia’s energy giant Gazprom, although its domestic output covers about 15% of its needs.
The price of $270 per 1,000 cubic meters is less than the average of $300 that Gazprom expects to set in Europe, and far less than the benchmark rate, which has soared to a record high over the past year as global demand returned after the initial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The price of gas futures on Netherlands’ TTF hub recorded a further growth to $1,025.5 per 1,000 cubic meters, marking a weekly surge of 4.5%.
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