I was accused of destabilising the situation, and now it has proven true that Bosnia and Herzegovina will be left without gas!

Former director of BH-Gas, Almir Bečarević, sent an open letter in response to the warning from this company that Bosnia and Herzegovina could soon be left without this energy source.

The Patria News Agency publishes the letter in full:

For months I have been writing about the scenario being prepared in the gas sector. I was accused of destabilising the situation in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, of not knowing the real financial situation, of having personal interests, etc. I want to repeat once again that on Monday BH-Gas will owe suppliers 30 million USD, which is equal to an IMF tranche, and Sarajevogas will owe approximately 70 million BAM, which is more than an IMF tranche.

I will repeat, and the media can judge whether this is normal. Sarajevogas has reduced its consumption from 150 million Sm3 in 2011 to 110 million Sm3, and this year it will be below 100 million Sm3 (if the reduction remains).

Gas imports into Bosnia and Herzegovina have decreased from 280 million Sm3 in 2011 to 157 million Sm3 in 2014.

The price of Russian gas has dropped from 530 US dollars in 2012 to 339 per 1000 Sm3 in the first quarter of 2015, with a tendency to be around 200 by the end of the year.

All managements since 1998, when BH-Gas was established, have never owed a single dollar to Gazprom, and everything was paid within the payment period of 30 days, and now that period is 45 days, and there is a problem now, but there wasn't one then.

Sarajevogas's debts have always been in the millions, but on the day of my dismissal and what was taken over by the new management in 2011, Sarajevogas's debt was 13 million BAM, and that management handed over a debt of approximately 49 million BAM to the current management, and now that debt will amount to 70 million BAM.

Look at the consumption in 2011 of 150 million Sm3 and the debt from that year of 13 million BAM, and the current consumption of 110 Sm3 and a debt of 70 million BAM.

Once again, I want to repeat that the current management has abnormal costs, prices that do not correspond to prices in the region, nothing has been done to collect the debts of Birač (24 million BAM), and nothing was done before the start of this heating season to regulate relations with Sarajevogas, but the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina received sanitised reports about improved collection and the successes of the current management.

This management was warned as early as the beginning of 2014 that this would happen, and they took no action to improve the situation. All of this is documented in writing at BH-Gas, and what is happening now is merely a consequence of wrong moves. I expect BH-Gas to now seek an increase in the price of gas and to convince the public that the Government of Sarajevo Canton is solely to blame.