Page 132 - SE Outlook Regions 2023

is delivered to the domestic power system, which its owner NIS said
contributes to Serbia’s energy security. This will, however, depend on
Serbia securing natural gas to power the plant.

Meanwhile, Serbia should start importing electricity from Azerbaijan in
January 2023, if all preconditions are met, Energy Minister Dubravka
Djedovic said in November. This was agreed during the recent visit of
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to Belgrade, where the energy
issue was among the most important topics. According to the minister,
the transmission capacity for electricity imports is 50 MW.

Serbia is in talks with Hungary about potentially becoming a co-owner
of part of the PAKS 1 and/or PAKS 2 nuclear power plants (NPPs).

The Serbian government has also been encouraging the population to
reduce electricity consumption. Serbia cut electricity consumption by an
annual 11% in October following the government's recommendation to
households and companies to save electricity.

Djedovic has warned that gas prices for Serbian households will
increase by 11% and electricity prices by just under 10% in 2023.

Serbia maintains good relations with Russia and declined to join
Western sanctions, which helped the country to secure a new long-term
gas supply deal with Gazprom in May.

Vucic said in October that several interconnectors will be built, including
an interconnector with Bulgaria.

In October, Hungary and Serbia agreed to build a pipeline to transport
Russian Urals crude to Serbia via the Druzhba oil pipeline.

Construction will take between 18 and 24 months. The oil pipeline to
Hungary with a length of up to 128 km is estimated to cost up to
€100mn.

From December, Serbia is no longer able to receive Russian oil
supplies that were previously transported by ship to Croatia then on to
Serbia via the Janaf pipeline. New EU sanctions on Russian oil
deliveries by sea blocked that route.

Vucic announced in October that Serbia is working on building new oil
storage facilities, adding that there are two offers, one from the British
Vitol for 400,000 to 500,000 tonnes of oil, and the other from a local
tie-up for 200,000 tonnes.

Vucic said that Serbia will secure oil in various ways during the crisis
period, including purchasing Iraqi oil, which is 20% more expensive
than Russian oil.

132 SE Outlook 2023 www.intellinews.com