Serbia Seeks to Join AGRI

Serbian President Boris Tadic has said that his nation would like to join the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania-Interconnection (AGRI) project to secure the LNG supplies to central Europe.

AGRI seeks to bring Caspian gas to the Georgian Black Sea coast where it can be condensed before being shipped to Romania.

Already included in the Russia-backed South Stream gas pipeline, Serbia which is seeking to diversify its energy supplies, is interested to “take part in as many gas pipeline projects as possible,” Tadic commented after a meeting with Romanian President Traian Basescu.

Basescu said Romania will support Serbia’s participation in the project. Hungary has already joined in supporting the three core countries.

Serbia is dependent on gas imports from Russia which are transited via Ukraine and Hungary.

Dusan Bajatovic, general director of the state-owned gas company Srbijagas. said that Serbia may start construction on its portion of the South Stream pipeline by the end of 2011.

In other news from Serbia, Oliver Dulic, the Minister of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning, has said that the country will be seeking a strategic partner in conjunction with the exploration and development exploitation of oil shales in Aleksinac basin.