Montenegro weighs US-linked LNG corridor as Bar terminal and gas plants move from concept to feasibility

Montenegro’s renewed consideration of gas-fired power plants and an LNG terminal in the Port of Bar is reshaping how energy security is debated across the Balkans—at a time when Europe is actively searching for supply diversification. The discussion comes as United States efforts to expand LNG supply corridors into Southeast Europe intensify, aligning Montenegro with a broader geopolitical shift in regional gas sourcing.

From memoranda to a formal feasibility study

Montenegro has already signed multiple memoranda of understanding with international energy companies regarding the potential development of an LNG import terminal in Bar alongside associated gas-fired generation capacity. The latest step involves cooperation with Japanese energy major JERA, which is conducting a comprehensive feasibility study covering technical, commercial and financial viability for both an LNG terminal and related gas-fired power plants.

Prime Minister Milojko Spajić said earlier this year that the study is expected to be finalized by mid-2026.

What Montenegro has studied: plant scale, sites and costs

Earlier studies involving EPCG and the government examined several configurations for gas power plants ranging from 50 MW to 400 MW. Potential locations included Bar, Podgorica, Nikšić and Pljevlja. Investment estimates have varied from roughly €233 million to €362 million depending on plant scale and infrastructure design.

An Adriatic gateway for Western Balkans gas access

The project’s logic increasingly extends beyond domestic electricity needs. The strategy being discussed would place Montenegro’s Adriatic coast—particularly Croatia and potentially Montenegro—within reach of an alternative LNG gateway for the Western Balkans.

A future terminal in Bar could, in theory, supply not only Montenegro but also parts of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and potentially Hungary—turning Montenegro from a relatively isolated electricity market into a regional gas transit and balancing node.

For Serbia, the implications are especially significant. President Aleksandar Vučić previously confirmed Serbian interest in accessing LNG imports through a future Bar terminal, particularly as Belgrade seeks to diversify supply options amid uncertainty around long-term Russian gas dependence and the evolving sanctions environment affecting NIS.

Regional momentum tied to US LNG expansion

The renewed debate also follows broader regional coordination around US LNG access. Earlier this year, a group of Balkan and Central European countries signed a joint declaration in Washington supporting expanded access to US LNG supplies and diversified gas import routes. While Montenegro was not among the formal signatories, its plans align with that emerging architecture.

Gas as “transition” amid grid stability pressures

The controversy reflects a wider tension visible across Europe’s energy transition: while governments publicly prioritize decarbonization, renewable energy and climate neutrality, many power systems are simultaneously bringing back or expanding gas generation as a stabilizing resource for grids facing rising wind and solar penetration.

In Montenegro specifically, urgency is heightened by reliance on hydropower variability and by the aging Pljevlja coal power plant, which faces mounting environmental scrutiny and EU compliance pressure. Gas generation is therefore being examined as a transitional balancing option aimed at improving flexibility, reserve margins and winter security of supply.

Benefits argued—and risks contested

Supporters say an LNG project could strengthen energy security, attract strategic infrastructure investment and potentially enable new industrial activity linked to gas logistics and regional supply chains. Some concepts also include possible future adaptability toward hydrogen or ammonia infrastructure.

Opposition remains strong. Environmental organizations, local activists and parts of coastal municipalities have criticized the plans on concerns that they could lock Montenegro into long-term fossil fuel dependency at precisely the moment Europe is accelerating decarbonization policies. More than 40 NGOs and civic organizations have publicly opposed construction of an LNG terminal and gas-fired power plant in Bar.

Port of Bar: logistics opportunity versus tourism exposure

The Port of Bar has become central to both sides of the argument. Geopolitically, it offers Montenegro a rare chance to reposition itself within regional energy logistics. Environmentally, critics warn that industrial-scale LNG infrastructure could fundamentally change sensitive tourism and ecological zones along the Adriatic coast.

Earnings uncertainty complicates investment decisions

Financial viability also remains uncertain. The economics of LNG in Europe have become more volatile since the energy crisis; profitability would depend heavily on long-term gas pricing, regasification utilization rates, regional pipeline connectivity and how quickly renewable deployment progresses across the Balkans.

A choice about role in Southeast Europe’s evolving energy map

Even with those uncertainties, Montenegro’s move appears increasingly tied to a larger restructuring of Europe’s energy geography. As Western Balkans systems evolve from peripheral networks into contested infrastructure corridors—linking LNG imports, electricity interconnections, renewable balancing capacity and future industrial decarbonization supply chains—the question for investors becomes less about whether assets can be built quickly than about whether they fit into a durable regional demand-and-routing model.

For Montenegro itself, the debate is therefore no longer only about constructing an LNG terminal or adding new generation capacity; it increasingly concerns whether the country wants its future economic identity anchored primarily in tourism—or instead positioned as a broader regional infrastructure platform integrated into Southeast Europe’s shifting geopolitical landscape.