In the pipeline: a deal between Serbia and Gazprom
Russia and Serbia prime gas pact
Serbia's gas monopoly Srbijagas and Russia's Gazprom will sign a agreement later this week to develop an arm of the South Stream gas pipeline, Srbijagas boss Dusan Bajatovic said.
The deal, allowing Serbia to diversify its gas supplies and avoid shortages, like the one earlier this year during the gas row between Russia and Ukraine, will be signed between 14 May and 16 May at a top-level energy meeting in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, Bajatovic told Reuters.
"The Serbian arm of the pipeline will have annual capacity of 20 billion cubic metres of gas and will be about 450 kilometres long," Bajatovic told the news agency.
Last December, Serbia and Russia finalised a bilateral energy pact, with Belgrade agreeing to sell a 51% stake in its oil monopoly NIS to Gazprom Neft for $400 million ($544.6 million) in exchange for an arm of the South Stream gas pipeline and the completion of the Banatski Dvor gas storage.
The South Stream has been designed to bypass Ukraine and transport Russian gas under the Black Sea to Bulgaria and onwards to Serbia and Europe.
Bajatovic said Serbia's interests in a joint venture operating the pipeline would be well protected: "There is a list of key decisions that cannot be made without our consent."
The Gazprom-led project is a rival to the European Union-backed Nabucco pipeline, which aims to reduce Europe's reliance on Russia for its energy supplies.