Post by radovic on Dec 7, 2007 12:05:50 GMT -5
Hungarians, too, competing for our gas lines
MOL for setting up of a regional company
Author: R.Ž. Markoviæ | 07.12.2007 - 06:00
After official announcements of earlier about possibility that the pan-European gas pipeline ‘Southern Stream’ runs through Serbia, an initiative for setting up of a large regional company for management with gas pipelines that ‘Srbijagas’ might be included in, came from the Hungarian MOL. Although the ‘Southern Stream’ would solve the problems of gas supply to Serbia, MOL claims that its project, too, would secure that supply.
Serbia is presently consuming about two billion cubic meters of gas annually and until 2015 it is assessed that the consumption shall increase by 50 per cent. However, due to lack of gas stock (under construction at Banatski Dvor for ten years already) and increasingly larger consumption, the country has to contract additional quantities of gas each year. Last year there were supply reductions imposed even to big consumers. One solution is running of the ‘Southern Stream’ through Serbia. This pipeline with capacity of about 20 million cubic meters of gas daily would provide not only sufficient quantities of gas to Serbia, but millions of Euros from transit tax, as well.
The idea leader of the project is Russian ‘Gasprom’. Although Minister of energy Aleksandar Popovic said that there were economic reasons that the Russians build the pipeline via Serbia, different signals are coming these days. Thus the ‘Energy Observer’ site announced that the Italian ‘ENI’ and ‘Gasprom’ (work together on a feasibility study) have unofficially concluded that the route of the pipeline should run instead through Serbia, through Bulgaria, Romania and further to Europe. ‘ENI’ president said earlier that they had been analyzing variants that Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Austria take part in the project in order that the pipeline reach Italy and Germany.
While Minister Popovic says that we are lobbying with the Russians that the ‘Southern Stream’ runs through our country, that company’s representatives recently announced that they view running of the pipeline through Serbia in the light of one project that would understand completion of the stock at Banatski Dvor and privatization of NIS. So, everything has to go in a package.
In the meantime Hungarian ‘MOL’ launched initiative for uniting of a gas pipeline of the Central and Southeast Europe into one big mutual company.
The new company would have the longest gas pipeline of even 27,000 kilometers thus making it as one of the most important players in the market of Europe. The key advantage of our participation in such a project would be secured supply. As ‘MOL’ claims the new pipeline can be connected with the rest of the European net later thus offering additional safety of supply to countries included in the project. Another advantage would be that one large company would be always behind in dealing with all gas suppliers.
However, at the moment it is not clear how the share in the management would be determined and what our slice of the cake would be. Since ‘Srbijagas’ is a state owned company, the possible problem is in the fact that the State would have to find a management model that would satisfy both us and that big regional company.
MOL for setting up of a regional company
Author: R.Ž. Markoviæ | 07.12.2007 - 06:00
After official announcements of earlier about possibility that the pan-European gas pipeline ‘Southern Stream’ runs through Serbia, an initiative for setting up of a large regional company for management with gas pipelines that ‘Srbijagas’ might be included in, came from the Hungarian MOL. Although the ‘Southern Stream’ would solve the problems of gas supply to Serbia, MOL claims that its project, too, would secure that supply.
Serbia is presently consuming about two billion cubic meters of gas annually and until 2015 it is assessed that the consumption shall increase by 50 per cent. However, due to lack of gas stock (under construction at Banatski Dvor for ten years already) and increasingly larger consumption, the country has to contract additional quantities of gas each year. Last year there were supply reductions imposed even to big consumers. One solution is running of the ‘Southern Stream’ through Serbia. This pipeline with capacity of about 20 million cubic meters of gas daily would provide not only sufficient quantities of gas to Serbia, but millions of Euros from transit tax, as well.
The idea leader of the project is Russian ‘Gasprom’. Although Minister of energy Aleksandar Popovic said that there were economic reasons that the Russians build the pipeline via Serbia, different signals are coming these days. Thus the ‘Energy Observer’ site announced that the Italian ‘ENI’ and ‘Gasprom’ (work together on a feasibility study) have unofficially concluded that the route of the pipeline should run instead through Serbia, through Bulgaria, Romania and further to Europe. ‘ENI’ president said earlier that they had been analyzing variants that Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Austria take part in the project in order that the pipeline reach Italy and Germany.
While Minister Popovic says that we are lobbying with the Russians that the ‘Southern Stream’ runs through our country, that company’s representatives recently announced that they view running of the pipeline through Serbia in the light of one project that would understand completion of the stock at Banatski Dvor and privatization of NIS. So, everything has to go in a package.
In the meantime Hungarian ‘MOL’ launched initiative for uniting of a gas pipeline of the Central and Southeast Europe into one big mutual company.
The new company would have the longest gas pipeline of even 27,000 kilometers thus making it as one of the most important players in the market of Europe. The key advantage of our participation in such a project would be secured supply. As ‘MOL’ claims the new pipeline can be connected with the rest of the European net later thus offering additional safety of supply to countries included in the project. Another advantage would be that one large company would be always behind in dealing with all gas suppliers.
However, at the moment it is not clear how the share in the management would be determined and what our slice of the cake would be. Since ‘Srbijagas’ is a state owned company, the possible problem is in the fact that the State would have to find a management model that would satisfy both us and that big regional company.