ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- A Serbian oil company controlled by Russia's Gazprom Neft announced that it secured a multimillion-dollar contract to drill for oil in Turkmenistan.
Gazprom Neft holds a 51 percent stake in Serbia's Naftna Industrija Srbije. The company through a $32.9 million contract aims to drill five oil wells in Turkmenistan, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports.
Work is to begin in June and will run through February 2012, the Serbian company said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited in October with his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to discuss trade and energy issues.
Ashgabat blamed Russian gas company Gazprom for a blast at one of its natural gas pipelines and has since moved to diversify its export options to European and Asian markets. The country said in September it was keen to send its gas through the planned Nabucco pipeline for Europe.
Gazprom has since expressed interest in joining Turkmenistan in a natural gas pipeline through Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
Trade between the Turkmenistan and Russia passed $1 billion in 2009 excluding gas deliveries.
