Gas Suspension in Serbia Most Affects Vojvodina

The consequences of the complete suspension of gas supply to Serbia will be most felt in Vojvodina, as a large number of households rely entirely on this energy source, warned Vojvodina politicians and media on Wednesday.

Part of Novi Sad was left without heating during the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, as the city heating plants can only partially use fuel oil as fuel. City leaders urged citizens to use electricity for heating as rationally as possible to avoid "system failure." The crisis staff established for this purpose announced that there are fuel oil supplies for 15 to 20 days of heating. They added that the Clinical Center of Vojvodina and the maternity hospital have their alternative heating sources and are not endangered. Patients and employees in health centers, retirement homes, as well as children in kindergartens in parts of the city that will not have heating will be temporarily relocated, Vojvodina media reported. Households in Vojvodina were still receiving gas on Wednesday morning from small remaining supplies.

The director of "Srbijagas," Dušan Bajatović, stated that the gas currently available to Serbia – about one million cubic meters from the underground storage in Banatski Dvor – is directed to priority consumers and that Serbia "needs certain emergency quantities." The League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina warned, in the context of gas supply, about the detrimental sale of the Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) to Russia, claiming that Serbia gains nothing from that sale.

"Of the 200,000 households in Serbia that use gas, 180,000 are in Vojvodina. Who will provide them with heating now?" asked LSV in a statement. "Gas supply to Serbia has been completely suspended. Did we give up NIS and the most valuable Vojvodina property for this? Is this the privileged position that Russia provides us?" the party stated. Serbia and Russia signed the so-called energy agreement under which NIS will be sold for 500 million dollars, which Vojvodina parties strongly oppose. (H)