Azerbaijan's gas halt tests Serbia's energy resilience

Azerbaijan has informed Serbia that daily deliveries of 1.7 million cubic meters of natural gas have been halted due to issues on the Azerbaijani side. As a result, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced that the country will now need to rely more heavily on its gas reserves to meet its energy needs.

It was reported that the Serbian Oil Industry (NIS) was under pressure from the United States, demanding the withdrawal of Russian capital from the company. Vučić spoke of "exceptionally severe sanctions" from the United States.

Gas from Azerbaijan began being delivered to Serbia at the end of 2023. This winter, the country was expected to receive Azerbaijani supplies throughout the heating season. Serbia's energy minister, Dubravka Djedović Handanović, assured in September that over 990,000 cubic metres of gas would flow daily from Azerbaijan to Belgrade. So far, the resource reached Serbia via a pipeline running through neighbouring Bulgaria.

Until the connection was established, Serbia was dependent on Russian gas. Domestic production covered just under 13% of its needs, and the rest was imported exclusively from the Russian Federation.

On Friday, the Serbian Oil Industry (NIS), the largest oil company in the country, was subject to American sanctions as the Russian energy industry predominantly controls it. Since 2008, the Russian enterprises Gazprom and Gazprom Neft have been the majority shareholders of NIS.

Azertag.az reported that at the start of January, the Serbian president described Azerbaijan as a trustworthy partner for natural gas supplies. He also highlighted that around 425 million cubic meters of gas were stored in underground facilities in Serbia and Hungary at the time.