Azerbaijan suspends gas supplies to Serbia due to technical issues

Azerbaijan has informed Serbia of a suspension in daily gas deliveries of 1.7 million cubic meters due to technical problems at the Shah Deniz field, said Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.

bp, the operator of Shah Deniz, and Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the technical issues or the timeline for resolution, Caliber.Az reports, citing local media.

This development follows a recent halt in gas supplies to Bulgaria. Natural gas supplies from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria have been temporarily suspended due to technical reasons starting from January 7, 2025.

Bulgarian Bulgargaz Energy Company has announced the suspension, noting that supplies are expected to resume on January 11, 2025.

"The notice of the temporary halt was received from the Azerbaijani supplier on January 6, 2025," the company said.

In response to Trend’s request, ICGB AD, operator of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) said that the pipeline is fully operational.

The company said it was also recently notified about a temporary unplanned pause in Azerbaijani gas deliveries.

“Meanwhile, ICGB’s infrastructure is fully operational and fulfilling other client nominations as usual. We’re not aware of the technical details that caused this as the issue does not lay with the interconnector’s facilities,” said the company.

Notably, Azerbaijan began supplying natural gas to Serbia in February 2024, following a contract signed in November 2023 between the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Serbia's state-owned natural gas provider, Srbijagas. This agreement aimed to deliver up to 400 million cubic meters of gas annually from 2024 to 2026, with plans to increase the volume to one billion cubic meters per year thereafter.

By Khagan Isayev