Serbian Minister of Energy and Mining Aleksandar Antic talked Monday in Belgrade about gas interconnection between Serbia and Romania with Romanian Minister of Energy Dominic Gerea who called Serbia to join the Agri project which should allow for gas transport from Azerbaijan to Europe.
Following the meeting, Antic and his Romanian counterpart told press that the meeting discussed joint projects implemented by the two countries and the possibility of constructing 76-kilometre gas pipeline from Mokrin to Arad, FoNet reports.
The project may be of strategic importance to both countries, with public enterprises Srbijagas and Transgas being in charge of drafting a technical project which would then be presented to European Commission in order to talk finance, he said.
Asked about the capacities and price of such a project, Antic said that technical elements are yet to be put in place, whereas the capacity should not be lower than billion cubic metres per year. Technical draft will be done n the next couple of months in order to apply for funding with EC.
Antic said he was pleased to take an offer from Romania and take part in Agri energy project, for which he said would be another interesting project for Serbia, a project that would bring gas to the Balkans.
Romanian Minister of Energy, SMEs and Business Milieu Andrei Dominik Gerea said the project Agri foresaw transport of liquid gas from Azerbaijan to Europe and was launched by Hungary, Romania, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
He added that capacity of Agri project would be five billion cubic metres per year. The project foresees the transport of gas from Azerbaijan to Georgia where it would be turned into liquid gas and shipped to Romania and to European countries via pipelines.
Speaking about interconnection with Serbia Gerea said that they considered many projects which would allow for gas supply diversification to both countries.
The meeting of Serbian and Romanian delegations discussed the issue of joint management of Djerdap hydro power plant.
According to Antic, the issue emerged because Romanian and Serbian enterprises in charge of managing Djerdap had differences in interpretating the contract. They agreed to resolve the issue in a friendly manner, in the best interest of both sides.
Contract on capacity, conceded to Serbia by Romania on the account of coastal maintenance near the confluence of Nera and Dunav, triggered the differences in interpretation. This is a technical issue, the one to be resolved following the consultation with both EPS and Hidroelekktrika, Antic said.
Gerea said he was convinced that the misunderstanding between two companies would be sorted out with the support from state officials and experts.
