European countries are in for a “hell” of a winter due to the skyrocketing costs of energy, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday. Meanwhile, the government in Belgrade has done its best to stockpile natural gas, in case the pipeline delivering Russian gas via Turkey is sabotaged as well.
“Colder weather will start in five to seven days and then Europe will start to burn its gas reserves,” Vucic told reporters after observing military exercises at a range in eastern Serbia.
“Yesterday, the price of gas was $219 for 1,000 cubic meters and today it’s $450,” Vucic added. “It’s going to go up every day, because when the first batch starts leaving the stockpile and there is nothing to replenish it with, the price will rise.”
The Serbian president noted that this will also make electricity more expensive, pointing to a similar jump in price on the European spot market, which he said went from €156 per megawatt-hour on Wednesday to €240 on Thursday.
Vucic insisted that Serbia itself is well prepared, having stockpiled 667 million cubic meters of gas at four facilities. The people of Serbia have no reason to worry, even if something happens to the TurkStream pipeline delivering natural gas from Russia, he said.