BELGRADE, Serbia, May 20 (UPI) -- Plans and cost expectations for a leg of the South Stream gas pipeline through Serbia took form in the wake of energy deals with Russia, energy officials say.
Officials from Russian gas monopoly Gazprom signed a series of bilateral agreements at an energy summit early this week in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi on the proposed pipeline.
Gazprom and its Serbian counterpart, Srbijagas, agreed on the terms of a joint venture for export design, construction and operational components of the South Stream leg through Serbian territory, with Gazprom holding the 51 percent majority.
Dusan Bajatovic, the general director at Srbijagas, said the 280-mile leg of South Stream through Serbia will enter the country near the eastern city of Zajecar to Belgrade before branching off into northern and southern arteries, Serbian national news agency Tanjug reports.
He added the total cost of the Serbian portion of the project would cost at least $952 million.
The proposed South Stream pipeline would bring an estimated 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from Central Asia and Russia to Italy through the Balkans. Planners anticipate a launch date by 2013.
