Serbia reaches energy deal with Russia

Serbia said Monday it has agreed on a multi-million-dollar energy deal with Russia, to be signed this week despite strong opposition within the balkan country’s government.

The deal means Serbia will sell its oil monopoly, NIS, to Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom in exchange for the construction of a strategic Russian pipeline through Serbia.
The plan has divided the Balkan country’s lawmakers, even triggering the resignation of a senior official.

Economy minister Mladjan Dinkic has long protested against any such deal, noting Russia has given no firm guarantees that it will build the natural gas pipeline — called the “South Stream” — by 2015, even though Gazprom will be allowed to immediately take a controlling stake in NIS.

The $13 billion pipeline under the Black Sea would carry Russian natural gas to Bulgaria and Serbia before branching out to points in Western Europe.

AP