With the expansion of industry in Sarajevo in the 1960s and 1970s, air pollution exceeded permissible values many times over with the possibility of severe consequences. Due to the high degree of air pollution, especially in the winter period, caused by:

• Unsuitable geographical location of the city
• Unfavorable climatic conditions
• A large number of coal-fired boiler houses
• A large number of individual fireplaces

as well as the increased number of respiratory diseases, on the initiative of the city authorities, a decision was made to introduce the use of natural gas in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the aim of improving air quality.

The first consumer of natural gas was the Birač Alumina Plant in Zvornik, which began consumption in 1979. In the same year, the construction of the Zvornik-Sarajevo gas pipeline was completed, and Sarajevo was also connected to the gas pipeline network. The project of the main gas pipeline from Batajnica to Sarajevo as well as the distribution network in the city was financed by the World Bank. After that, in 1983, a gas pipeline was built from Semizovac to Zenica, in order for the Zenica Iron and Steel Works to start using natural gas in its plants.

Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have its own sources of natural gas, so the supply is based on imports for now with only one transmission route from the Republic of Serbia via the Turkish Stream and one source of supply (Russian gas). The transmission station for the supply of Bosnia and Herzegovina is located in Karakaj near Zvornik.

Description of the  transmission system

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina uses a gas transmission system with a length of 196.1 km, which is made up of 3 (three) sections, which are indicated below by name, diameter and length.

Transmission gas system of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina as of 12/31/2022

Basic data (parts) of the transmission gas system managed by BH-Gas.