Serbia does not have to wait for the start of the construction of the South
Stream gas pipeline in neighboring Bulgaria before launching works on its own
section, the director of state-owned gas monopoly Srbijagas Dusan Bajatovic
said.
The South Stream gas pipeline, spearheaded by Russia's Gazprom, is
planned to carry gas from Russia to central and southern Europe via Bulgaria,
Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia.
In June, the Bulgarian government halted
the construction of the pipeline on the country's territory until the project is
brought in line with EU law.
Bajatovic said in a statement posted on the
Srbijagas website over the weekend he is not concerned about the start of the
construction works on the Bulgarian section of the pipeline as he sees enough
political will in the neighboring country for that move.
The official
added that the building permit for the Serbian leg of the pipeline is expected
to be granted over the next 15 days with construction works expected to get
underway in late October.
There will be a small modification of the route
of the northern branch as the pipeline will exit Serbia near Subotica, and not
near Sombor, Bajatovic said.
A 2.1 billion euro ($2.7 billion) deal for
the construction of the Serbian section of the pipeline was signed in July with
Gazprom unit Centrgaz as the main building contractor.
Srbijagas has said
the first volumes of gas should start flowing through the 422.4 kilometre
Serbian section of the pipeline by the end of 2016.
The joint venture
company in charge of the implementation of the South Stream project in Serbia is
49%-owned by Srbijagas with Gazprom controlling the remainder.
The total
value of the South Stream pipeline is estimated at some 16 billion euro.
Commercial operation is scheduled to start by the end of 2015 with the pipeline
reaching its full capacity of some 63 billion cubic metres per year by
2017.
Source: SeeNews