The suspension of gas deliveries on 7 May at 06:00 is an inevitability caused by the non-payment of importer and supplier of natural gas to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) – Energoinvest’s invoice for imported and delivered gas for the month of March 2021 by gas company BH-Gas. Although the consumers have duly paid for gas and settled their obligations for March 2021 through local distributors or directly to BH-Gas, the gas company refuses to pay invoices to Energoinvest, which would allow settling obligations to Russian gas supplier Gazprom Export.
The statement from Energoinvest said that the refusal of payments by BH-Gas has been going on for several months, without any legal basis or justification. However, the company received a warning from the Russian gas supplier about the inevitability of payment or further suspension of gas supplies. As the payment did not take place despite multiple warnings sent to BH-Gas, as well as the filing of a lawsuit by Energoinvest before the competent court, further gas deliveries will be suspended on 7 May.
This situation also caused serious business damage to Energoinvest and the deterioration of the company’s reputation with the partner with which Energoinvest has been doing business for more than 40 years.
The dispute between Energoinvest and BH-Gas intensified after the former changed the supply route at the request from Gazprom Export. As of 1 April 2021, FBiH is getting natural gas via TurkStream pipeline instead of traditional route via Ukraine and Hungary.
