Belgradehosted a working meeting between Tomislav Nikolic, President of the Republic of Serbia and Dmitry Malyshev appointed as Executive Director of South Stream d.o.o. Novi Sad.

The parties discussed preparations in Gazprom for the South Stream gas pipeline construction. Special attention was paid to the plan of joint actions on implementing the project in Serbia that would become the central point of South Stream in the gas transmission process.

The meeting highlighted that creation of new gas transmission routes from Russia to Europe avoiding transit intermediaries played the key role in raising the energy security of European consumers. The parties also pointed out that the South Stream execution would boost economic development of the countries involved in the project.

Based on the meeting results, Tomislav Nikolic assured Dmitry Malyshev of Serbia's support to South Stream and underlined that the gas pipeline construction was a top-priority national project for the Republic.

Background

Being a subsidiary company of the South Stream Serbia AG joint project company, South Stream d.o.o. Novi Sad is authorized to operate the South Stream project in Serbia. South Stream Serbia AG was registered in November 2009. Gazprom holds a 51 per cent stake in the company and Srbijagas – a 49 per cent stake.

The South Stream project aims to diversify the routes of natural gas export to European consumers and stipulates the gas pipeline construction via the Black Sea to Southern and Central Europe. The design throughput of the South Stream offshore section will total 63 billion cubic meters per annum. The gas pipeline construction will start in December 2012.

Intergovernmental agreements were signed with Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria in order to implement the onshore gas pipeline section.