Russian gas major Gazprom said on Tuesday its Centrgaz unit has won a tender to
build the Serbian section of the South Stream gas pipeline.
The tender,
launched in March, drew bidders from Russia and Serbia, Gazprom said in a
statement.
Centrgaz, 99.99%-owned by Gazprom, will be in charge of the
design, the supply of equipment and materials, the construction and installation
works, the staff training and the commissioning of the Serbian stretch of the
pipeline.
Under the contract signed on Tuesday by Centrgaz with the
project company in charge of the Serbian section of the pipeline, it is obliged
to subcontract Serbian companies to carry out certain activities.
In
June, on the backdrop of the stand-off between the EU and Gazprom over the
implementation of the project on the territory of some EU member states, news
agency Itar-Tass quoted Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov as saying Russia
and Serbia had confirmed their commitments to the construction of the gas
pipeline.
Also in June, Bulgarian prime minister Plamen Oresharski said
Bulgaria was halting the construction of the South Stream section on its
territory until the project is aligned to EU law. The Bulgarian authorities had
earlier received a letter of formal notice from the European Commission, asking
the country to suspend the project's implementation as it runs counter to EU
legislation.
The planned South Stream gas pipeline will carry gas from
Russia to central and southern Europe via Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and
Slovenia, reaching its full capacity of some 63 billion cubic metres (cu m) per
year by 2017. The total value of the Gazprom-spearheaded project is estimated at
some 16 billion euro ($21.7 billion).
Construction works on the Serbian
section of the South Stream - which will ultimately have an annual capacity of
40.5 billion cu m while stretching for 422.4 kilometers - are set to start in
July.