The Serbian President says that Azerbaijani gas to Serbia has been suspended.

The gas flow from Azerbaijan into Serbia has been stopped and it's unclear when it will resume. This was the statement of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, according to news agency Tanjug.

Vucic said to reporters, "I received information from our Azerbaijani brothers and friends, that due to force majeure and their problems, as of today, we cannot count on the 1.7 million cubic meters of gas which was expected every day."

Vucic stated that it was unclear when gas flow would resume.

Vucic added that the gas flow would be resumed in about a month.

Serbia, which consumes more than 3 billion cubic meters of gas annually, signed an agreement with Azerbaijan in 2023 to buy 400 million cubic meters of natural gas each year starting 2024.

The remainder of the gas is imported from Russia.

Serbia, which is aiming to join the European Union (EU), faces pressure to reduce its dependency on Russia in terms of gas and oil.

After new U.S. oil sanctions, Russia's Gazprom will have 45 days to sell its ownership in Serbian oil company NIS. NIS is one of the largest contributors to Serbian budget.

NIS is owned in majority by Gazprom - Gazprom holds 50% of the shares, while Gazprom Russia holds 6.15 %. The Serbian Government holds 29,87% of the shares, while small shareholders account for the rest.

Azerbaijan also announced earlier this week, that it had suspended its gas contract from January 7 to 11, for unspecified reasons.

The interruption occurred as BP Azerbaijan announced on Friday that it had suspended work at the Shah Deniz Alfa platform (SDA) after detecting a problem with the subsea condensate line.

BP didn't immediately respond to a Saturday request for comment about gas exports to Serbia from Azerbaijan. Ivana Skularac is the reporter. Vladimir Soldatkin contributed additional reporting. Mark Potter (Editing)

(source: Reuters)