FBiH Government Decapitated BH Gas: Since Last May, Nikšić, Following HDZ Instructions, Refuses to Appoint Supervisory Board!

(Patria) - “The mandate of the previous Supervisory Board has expired and the appointment of a new Supervisory Board is expected,” has been written since last May on the website of the Company for Production and Transport of Gas BH–Gas d.o.o.



But from May 2023 until today, February 2024, the table where the names of the Supervisory Board members should be listed is empty.

According to the Law on Business Companies and the Statute of BH Gas, the Supervisory Board has significant powers, including giving consent to general acts of the company (e.g., business plan), making recommendations on profit distribution or loss coverage, determining gas prices, and, among other things, approving operations, purchases, loans, and sales in BH Gas whose value exceeds 15 percent of the company's total capital. The Supervisory Board also gives consent to the Public Procurement Plan of BH Gas.

Thus, the non-existent Supervisory Board is one of the key governing bodies of BH Gas. Therefore, the operations of this company in 2024 are jeopardized. And all this comes at a time when the Bosnian public and international circles are debating who will manage the southern gas interconnector.

According to information from Istrage, the leaders of HDZ BiH want to decapitate BH Gas and bring it to the brink of collapse in order to necessitate the formation of a new gas company based in Mostar that would manage the southern interconnector. After the FBiH Government was imposed by OHR decision at the end of April last year, Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić and other ministers from the Troika, although they have a majority, did not want to appoint members of the BH Gas Supervisory Board without the consent of HDZ. Thus, this company has now been operating without a Supervisory Board for nine months. Last year, the situation was significantly more favorable because the previous Supervisory Board managed to adopt key acts related to the company's operations at the beginning of the calendar year 2023. However, operations during 2024 are now completely jeopardized.

Let us recall, on January 11 this year, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on BiH Foreign Minister Elmedin Konaković to pressure HDZ leader Dragan Čović to urgently adopt the law on the southern gas interconnector. The letter directly mentioned BH Gas as well.

“We call on the House of Peoples of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to adopt the law on the Southern Interconnector, which was developed in consultation with international experts and represents a key step towards permitting, financing, and constructing the gas pipeline. BH-Gas, the transmission system operator in the Federation, must implement this project to ensure the much-needed energy security of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We encourage the company (BH GAS) to undertake the necessary governance reforms to strengthen it to serve all residents of the Federation. Given that this project is in the clear interest of your country and the region, I encourage you and others in your government to pressure the leader of the HDZ of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dragan Čović, to end his obstruction regarding this matter. Čović's demands for the formation of a new transmission system operator in the Federation are duplicative, economically unsustainable, and jeopardize the entire project. Such blatant corruption and self-dealing could jeopardize Bosnia and Herzegovina's path to the EU,” Blinken stated.

The HDZ leader, we recall, insists on establishing a new company in Herzegovina that would manage the southern gas interconnector, which would reduce BiH's dependence on Russian gas. Through the southern gas interconnector, it would be possible to supply gas to BiH from Azerbaijan and from Croatia, which would contain American liquefied gas.