Azerbaijan has suspended gas supplies to Serbia — Vucic

The Azerbaijani authorities have informed Serbia that they are forced to suspend natural gas supplies due to problems at the Shah Deniz field.

This was stated during a press conference in Belgrade on Saturday, January 11, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic after a meeting with US Undersecretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma.

The Head of State explained that the country has now lost gas supplies in the amount of 1.7 million cubic meters per day for an indefinite period.

"We have received a notification from our Azerbaijani brothers and friends that due to insurmountable difficulties, problems at the Shah Deniz field, we cannot count on 1.7 million cubic meters of gas per day from today, which we received," TASS quoted Vucic as saying.

In the message from Baku was also told that there is no clarity yet on how long it will take to restore gas supplies. The Serbian president said that now his country will have to spend much more and more of its own reserves.

Vucic also stated that "trouble does not come alone," thus hinting at the sanctions imposed by the United States against the Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS).

The Serbian leader expressed hope that the Azerbaijanis will restore supplies in one or two months. Otherwise, Belgrade will have to spend 2-2.5-3 million cubic meters of gas per day from its own reserves every day for the next 4 months.

Earlier, EADaily reported that the Serbian authorities terminated the arms supply contracts concluded with Russia. This was stated by the Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, General Milan Moisilovic.