By opening an underground gas storage, „Banatski Dvor“ with its strategic partner, Russian company Gazprom, Serbia has drawn nearer to the realization of one of its goals – becoming an important energy junction in southeastern Europe, Serbian President Boris Tadić said, attending the opening of a gas storage in Banatski Dvor near Zrenjanin, in northeastern Serbia.

He stressed that two years before Serbia had had problems when gas supplies from Russia were blocked and pointed to the importance of energy storage capacities.

The gas storage in Banatski Dvor was also visited by the chair of the Gazprom Managing Board, Alexei Miller, and the director of Serbian gas company Srbijagas, Dušan Bajatović.

The „Banatski dvor“ underground gas storage is the first facility within the South Stream gas line project, said Miller, adding that that the construction of the South Stream gas line would begin in 2013 and end by the end of 2015.

President Tadic said that a line from the South Stream section through Serbia is to go to the Republic of Srpska.