Stuart Elliott

Serbia has agreed to a further three-month extension to its gas supply contract with Russia's Gazprom, Serbia's energy minister Dubravka Dedovic Handanovic said late June 4, following talks in St Petersburg with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller. Dedovic Handanovic said the extension would allow continued, stable, "affordable" Russian gas deliveries to Serbia, state broadcaster RTS reported.

Ukraine's energy regulator has cut tariffs for gas storage services in a bid to create "favorable conditions" for building stocks to necessary levels ahead of next winter. In a statement May 26, the National Commission for the Regulation of Energy and Utilities of Ukraine (NERC) said it had adopted a number of decisions related to the country's gas storage system.

Germany's gas grid operator group FNB Gas said May 27 that the need to implement a two-part strategic gas storage model was "all the more urgent" given recent geopolitical developments. FNB -- which represents 12 gas grid operators -- published May 27 its latest security of supply report, and called for a new strategy that combines market mechanisms and regulatory protection.