According to the allocation of the wartime debt for natural gas which was delivered to Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Russian Federation, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) had to pay 53.8 million US dollars, while the Republika Srpska, the smaller of the two BiH entities, had to pay 50.0 million. As of today, consumers in FBiH paid off 7.1 million of wartime debt, thereby leaving 97.7 million left to pay, according to BH Gas.
Consumers in FBiH pay a 5 dollar tax for each 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas spent, while consumers in RS haven’t paid a single dollar in this manner, despite the fact that an agreement was signed between the entities about the partial payment of the wartime debt.
Besides that, BH Gas emphasizes, the question of the wartime debt is especially laden with the fact that the BiH Council of Ministers signed an agreement with the Russian Federation about the payment of the clearing debt of Russia towards BiH, which was previously connected to the wartime natural gas debt.
“The assumption that Gazprom Export will request payment of the wartime gas debt, which is commercially owned by Energoinvest even though it was used by both entities and therefore a responsibility of the state, after it pays us their clearing debt is perfectly reasonable,” they emphasize in BH Gas.
They add that conclusions of a meeting between the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and the BiH ambassador in Russia point towards a clear Russian expectation of BiH to repay its war debt.
“Besides the fact that the clearing debt was resolved and the wartime gas debt was not resolved, as well as the fact that the Agreement about the mechanism for the partial payment of the wartime gas expires next year, no one can now predict how that will impact purchases of natural gas,” they said from this company for production and transport of gas.
They also added that the annex of the agreement with Gazprom Export is extended each year.
(Source: Klix.ba)
