SERBIA is planning to construct a 400-km cross-country gas pipeline in partnership with Russia’s Gazprom in a project worth more than $800 million, the government said recently. The project between Serbian gas monopoly Srbijagas and Gazprom-Gazexport would make Serbia “one of the key regional participants in gas transport,” the government said in a statement.
It is understood that a memorandum of understanding was due to be in the next few weeks, after ministers return from their summer holiday.
The plan is for the pipeline in Serbia to be linked to the Blue Stream pipeline which runs from Russia to Turkey under the Black Sea. "The Serbian pipeline is to be built south of the Sava and the Danube rivers, and the route will go from Dimitrovgrad to Nis and on towards Croatia and Bosnia," a source in the government said. "The pipe will have a capacity of 20bn cum/yr."
Another source familiar with the plan said the deal would help Serbia repay a debt to Kuwait. "Gazprom has agreed to take over Serbia's $370-million debt to Kuwait," the source said. "Serbia would start repaying the debt to Gazprom once the gas starts flowing, getting 25% of the transit fees and spending it on debt servicing. That means there will be no threat to the liquidity of the budget," the source added. "But it also sends a signal to the authorities that Gazprom wants control of Srbijagas once it is ripe for sale," he said.