Construction of Serbian Leg of South Stream Pipeline to Start this Year

The construction of the Serbian section of the South Stream gas pipeline will commence at the end of this year.

The announcement that construction would be moved forward from the expected start up in 2014, was announced in Moscow after a meeting between Serbian Minister of Mining Milan Bacevic and Chairman of the Gazprom's Management Committee Alexey Miller.

Gazprom stated that the parties discussed energy cooperation between the two countries and  agreed that the South Stream project is being implemented at the agreed-upon pace.

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic commented that Gazprom who be prepared to finance the construction of the Serbian section of the South Stream gas pipeline. Serbia would pay back the estimated 1.7 billion Euro requirement through transit taxes which will be collected once the pipeline becomes operational.