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The Bulgarian government will remove taxes for the transit of Russian natural gas destined for Serbia and Hungary.
Speaking on public television, Serbia's Energy Minister Jedovic Hadanovic expressed her satisfaction with the agreement reached with Bulgaria to remove the special tax on Russia, noting that the move was against European regulations on natural gas.
Bulgaria in mid-October imposed additional taxes on the import and transport of Russian gas, in the amount of 20 BGN (about 10 euros) per megawatt hour, as part of sanctions against Russia, following the invasion of Ukraine.
Nikolai Denkof's government explained that the aim of the tax was not to increase gas prices for Serbia and Hungary, but to reduce the profits of Russian energy giant Gazprom, which supplies gas to Serbia and Hungary via Bulgaria.
Belgrade and Budapest then described Sofia's decision as "hostile". Serbia is completely dependent on Russian natural gas and in November turned to the Energy Community, the European Union's regulatory body in the energy sector, asking Bulgaria to remove the tax.
It is noted that Serbia is gradually starting to diversify its sources of natural gas supply. On December 10, the interconnector pipeline, which stretches from the Serbian city of Nis to the outskirts of Sofia, was commissioned. This pipeline, which has the capacity to transport 1.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year, will transport Azerbaijani gas that will arrive in Greece via the TAP pipeline and later from the LNG terminal in Alexandroupolis.
In addition, on November 15, it signed an agreement with Azerbaijan to supply 400 million cubic meters of natural gas per year. To cover its current needs, Serbia needs about 3.2 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
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