BELGRADE (Serbia), March 13 (SeeNews) – Serbian state-owned monopoly Srbijagas has signed an agreement to acquire a 39.14% stake in the capital of Bosnia's Serb Republic company Gas Promet to back the expansion of the entity's gas network, the Serbian energy ministry said.
The agreement regulates the property and legal relations between Srbijagas and Gas Promet , the energy ministry said in a statement earlier this week without providing financial details.
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After the transaction, Srbijagas will become the largest shareholder in Gas Promet, the Serb Republic Share Fund will keep a 26% stake, while investment funds will own 18.29%. The Serb Republic Pension Fund and the entity's Restitution Fund will control shareholding interests of 10% and 5%, respectively.
"At the last joint session of the two governments, we have updated the issue of the development of the gas network and the construction of gas infrastructure through the Serb Republic after the process of construction of the TurkStream gas pipeline was unblocked," the Serb Republic energy minister, Petar Djokic, said.
Srbijagas may build a section of the TurkStream pipeline linking Belgrade to Bosnia's Serb Republic within three years, the managing director of the company, Dusan Bajatovic said in the statement.
"Serbia will support the development of the gas system in the Serb Republic, as this is a prerequisite for the development of the economy. Gas becomes a key energy source for the development of the economy, and we must jointly exploit the potential of the Drina River and build hydro power plants," Serbian energy minister Aleksandar Antic said.
In March 2018, Antic said that the Serb Republic needs to increase its capacity to receive gas deliveries from Serbia to 600 million cubic meters annually from the current 70 million cubic metres.
The Serb Republic is one of two entities that form Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other is the Federation.
Russia's Gazprom plans to build a string of its TurkStream pipeline for transit of natural gas to Europe from Turkey via Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary. The future pipeline on the territory of Serbia, approximately 400 km in length, will link the country's natural gas transmission system to the systems of Bulgaria and Hungary.
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