Representatives of the Russian energy company “Gazprom” and the Serbian energy company “Srbijagas” signed an agreement on Tuesday in Bern, Switzerland, to establish a joint venture “South Stream Serbia”.
The Russian side will own 51 percent of the new company, while the Serbian side will hold 49 percent, making it the first company that a Russian firm has established with one of the countries involved in the project "South Stream", announced "Srbijagas". The director of "Srbijagas", Dušan Bajatović, stated to Belgrade media that the capacity of the "South Stream" gas pipeline through Serbia will be 36 to 41 billion cubic meters of gas annually.
According to him, this will enable Serbia to generate annual revenue from transit fees amounting to around half a billion euros. Bajatović stated at the end of October that Serbia can very quickly complete the construction of storage facilities with a capacity of five to seven billion cubic meters, which would be three years’ worth of supplies for Serbian needs, thus becoming a "regional and European player" in gas transport and trade. (H)
