March 13 (SeeNews) - The government of Bosnia's Federation entity said on Wednesday it rejected the request of gas supplier BH Gas to lift the wholesale price of natural gas by 31%.
The proposed increase in the wholesale price, along with all the negative socio-economic aspects, will also lead to reduction of natural gas consumption in the Federation, the entity's government said in a statement.
The Sarajevo-based gas supplier said in January it has proposed to the energy ministry of the Federation entity to endorse an increase of wholesale gas price to 650 marka ($382.9/332.3 euro) per 1000 cubic meters from January 1, from 495 marka, citing the rise in global oil prices in 2018, and the related increase in the price of gas imports from Russia. BH Gas said back then that even though the price of Russian gas imports had risen by as much as 100% between 2016 and 2018, the company had maintained its wholesale price on the domestic market at 495 marka per 1000 cubic meters for a year and a half in cooperation with the energy ministry of the Federation. Bosnia is completely dependent on Russian gas deliveries via Serbia to meet its needs.
BH-Gas also said that the wholesale price of natural gas in Bosnia's other entity, the Serb Republic, has increased from 435 marka to 654 marka per 1000 cubic meters during the second half of 2018.
The Federation and the Serb Republic are the two autonomous entities that form Bosnia and Herzegovina.
(1 euro = 1.95583 marka)