Energoinvest, as a supplier and importer of natural gas to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBIH), announces that from tomorrow, May 7th at 6 a.m. there will be a suspension of gas supply to the FBiH.
The mentioned suspension of gas delivery is an inevitability caused by the non-payment of Energoinvest’s invoice for imported and delivered gas for March 2021 by BH Gas d.o.o. Sarajevo, as Energoinvest announced.
Although consumers in the FBiH regularly paid for this gas and settled their obligations for March 2021 through local distributors or directly to BH Gas, BH Gas refused to pay the bills to Energoinvest, which would allow settlement of obligations to Russian gas supplier Gazprom Export, as well as all customs and tax obligations.
The refusal of payments by BH Gas and the return of invoices to Energoinvest has been going on for several months now, without any legal basis and justification, as they announced.
This situation and non-payment of the last invoice for March 2021, led to the fact that we received a warning from the Russian gas supplier about the inevitability of payment or further suspension of gas delivery. As the payment did not occur despite multiple warnings sent to BH Gas, as well as the filing of a lawsuit by Energoinvest at the competent court, further gas deliveries will be suspended on May 7th, 2021.
Energoinvest claims that they have serious business damages due to non-payment and related customs and tax obligations for gas, and also, this clearly has led to the deterioration of Energoinvest’s reputation with the partners with which Energoinvest has been doing business for more than 40 years.
In addition, we would like to inform the public that this non-payment is a conscious act of BH Gas, which seeks to maintain positions of absolute control and power in gas business in FBiH, which according to the existing legislation do not belong to this company. By not paying for gas to Energoinvest as a supplier and importer of gas, they are trying to force the ”status quo” to be maintained and to put the FBiH Government in a position to deviate from its own Conclusions no. 599/21 of April 8th, 2021, which affirmed the obligation to apply the Regulation according to which BH Gas is only the operator of the transport system of the FBiH.
Energoinvest informs that on Friday, May 7th, 2021, at 11 a.m., it will hold a press conference where it will present relevant documentation and correspondence on this issue, which has been going on since December 2020, as well as decisions on moving to a far more economical route via the Turkish Stream, BHRT writes.
E.Dz.
