At the seventh sitting, held on 8 December, called by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, the Industry Committee members discussed the Information on the negotiations between the delegations of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Russian Federation regarding the Agreement on cooperation in the oil and gas field.

The sitting was chaired by the Committee Chairman, Milorad Buha, and attended by the Minister of Energy and Mining, Petar Skundric and associates.

Minister Skundric informed the Committee members about the negotiations regarding the realisation of the oil-gas arrangement with the Russian Federation. He stressed that, according to the agreement, three projects are to be realised: the sale of 51% of NIS shares to Gaspromet company, construction of a magisterial gas pipeline through Serbia and construction of a gas storage facility in Serbia. The Minister also stated that the Serbian side proposed signing individual agreements for the realisation of the three projects, as well as signing a trial agreement to unify all three projects. The Russian side believed that signing an Interstate Agreement was enough, and that the trial agreement was unnecessary, while it agreed on signing separate agreements for the aforementioned projects. The Minister added that they had reached an agreement on the magisterial gas pipeline and gas storage projects, while the negotiations regarding the NIS project are still in progress. Three issues are of importance in the negotiations: the sale of 19% of the shares to the Russian partner, investment into the modernisation of NIS and introduction and abiding by standards in the field of environmental protection. Since the Serbian and the Russian side have different approaches to these issues, the talks are still in progress and it was agreed that they be completed by 20 December of this year. In the matter of gas storage the technical-technological and economic parameters have been harmonised, and the Russian side has accepted all of Serbia’s proposals. High agreement has been achieved on the present level of negotiations regarding the construction of the magisterial gas pipeline. A feasibility study for the southern flow will be completed within 18 months after the completion of the negotiations, i.e. by the third quarter of 2009, and for the entire project by the end of 2010, while the realisation of the entire project is expected by the end of 2015, to which the Russian partner has obligated itself, Minister Skundric pointed out.

In the discussion on the Information presented by Minister Skundric, the Committee members exchanged opinions on the issues concerning the character of the documents within the signed Agreement, the guarantees Serbia receives from the Russian Federation concerning the realisation of said projects, the character of Gasprom’s investment into NIS, the issue of ownership structure in the middleman Yugorosgas, and who are the authorised Serbian negotiators in the arrangements.