Russia’s Gazprom Takes Control of Serbian Oil Monopoly

Source: NYT

BERLIN — Serbia announced Tuesday that Russia has bought Serbia’s oil monopoly, the latest in Russia’s recent string of energy acquisitions. The deal will also allow Moscow to send more natural gas to Europe through its South Stream pipeline.

Four days after signing a major pipeline deal with Bulgaria, the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom agreed to buy a 51 percent stake in NIS, the Serbian state-owned oil company. The deal was yet another blow to the European Union’s ambitions to build its own 2,000-mile pipeline to bring gas to Europe from Iran and Azerbaijan via Turkey, analysts said.

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“As regards the deal between Russia and Serbia, we can blame the E.U. for some of this,” said Borut Grgic, an energy expert and director of the Institute for Strategic Studies in Ljubljana, Slovenia. “In all its negotiations with Serbia when dealing with the future status of Kosovo, the E.U. never brought up with Serbia the issue of energy security and how Serbia could play an important role for Europe,” he added.

Gazprom has taken advantage of the disarray inside the European Union by forging ahead with its own contracts with Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary and now Serbia, as it consolidates its presence in southeastern Europe.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/world/europe/23serbia.html?dlbk