Bosnia’s Gas Importer Says Russian Deliveries Renewed

“BH Gas informs the public that it received notification from Hungarian gas transmission company FGSZ at 1423 hours [local time] [1323 GMT] that it has delivered at the Hungarian-Serbian border the first quantities of [Russian] natural gas, or 214,000 cubic metres per day, for Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the company said in a statement.

Russian gas supplies to Bosnia came to a complete halt on January 6 following a gas price row between Russia and Ukraine. Bosnia gets its natural gas, all of it Russian, via a single pipeline coming from Ukraine, Hungary and its neighbour Serbia. Gas deliveries to the country were renewed on January 10 after German E.ON Ruhrgas agreed with BH Gas to supply up to 1.5 million cubic metres daily via Hungary and Serbia.

“BH Gas will cancel the current agreement with E.ON Ruhrgas once full [Russian gas] supply quantities are confirmed, which we expect [to happen] tomorrow,” BH Gas said.

Bosnia is a relatively small gas consumer with 2008 consumption estimated at 340 million cubic metres.

The disruption in Russian gas supply to the country caused many factories to suspend production and left thousands of households across the country without heating amidst freezing winter temperatures.