Nis was put under the Kremlin Christmas tree

Control over the Serbian energy holding passed to Gazprom Neft, Moscow managed to defend economic dividends promised by Belgrade in exchange for political support from the Kremlin. Contrary to active resistance from some political forces of Serbia, Gazprom Neft has established control over the Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) national energy holding, which controls about 70% of the republic’s fuel market.

Yesterday, in the presence of the presidents of the two countries of Dmitry Medvedev and Boris Tadich, the heads of Gazprom Neft companies Alexander Dyukov and the Minister of Energy and Mining of Serbia, Petar Shkundrich, put their autographs under the agreement on the sale of 51% of the NIS Oil Oil Daughter of Gazprom.

The signature ceremony took place in the Catherine Hall of the Kremlin, whose lush decoration was animatedly discussed by the presidents. This was not the first meeting of the leaders of the two countries, so they behaved like old acquaintances. Both did not hide their satisfaction with what was happening, joked a lot and did not hesitate to be loud words. President Tadic said that he considers the deal the “key to the prosperity of the economies”, and Dmitry Medvedev called the celebration a “epoch -making event”.

“Until now, Russian-Serbian relations have been characterized mainly by beautiful statements. But now we have specific affairs that are the result of our meetings, ”said the Serbian leader. “It is symbolic that this happened before the New Year, that year that will probably create additional opportunities for the development of our economies and to ensure the energy security of our countries and Europe as a whole, and at the same time a year that is clearly not easy,” said Dmitry Medvedev. In his opinion, "such agreements give an additional impulse, create an additional base in order to help economies in such difficult conditions, and ultimately work to solve big problems."

The expert community as a whole shares the position of the Russian president, but it is symbolic not so much the date of signing the agreement as the statements made by him after the ceremony. “We proceeded and today we proceed from the fact that the unilateral recognition of the independence of Kosovo extremely negatively affected regional and international security. Russia in my person once again stated that our line to support the settlement of the Kosovo problem in accordance with the resolution of the UN General Assembly 1244 remains unchanged, ”said Dmitry Medvedev.

Analysts suggest that in exchange for political support, Moscow may require Belgrade of considerable economic dividends. The intensification of economic cooperation of the two countries fell on the summer of last year, when Russia refused to support the draft resolution of the UN Security Council in Kosovo and even threatened to vested the decision on the future status of the province. Shortly before this event, the head of the Serbian government held a number of informal meetings with former Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Despite the presence of the highest level agreements, Gazprom Neft had to fight seriously for Serbian holding. The Russian company’s desire to become a majority shareholder NIS came across the active resistance of Serbian politicians. The parliament of the republic has three times refused to ratify the energy agreement with Russia. Under the terms of this agreement, signed by the parties in early 2008, in addition to buying a NIS control package, the Russian side was supposed to lay a 400-kilometer branch of the South Stream gas pipeline through the territory of Serbia. On this route, Gazprom planned to transport at least 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Central Europe, which promised Belgrad considerable benefits from transit payments. In addition, the agreement recorded the agreements of the parties on the creation of a joint venture and the completion of the underground gas storage (PHG) “Banatsk Dvor” with a volume of at least 300 million cubic meters, as well as the provision of certain preferences for gas procurement (according to unofficial data, Moscow Suli Belgrada 20 percent discount when buying Russian energy).

The conditions put forward by the Russian side seemed insufficient Serbian parliamentarians. According to the Minister of Economics and Regional Development of Serbia, Dinkich, the price proposed by Gazprom Neft (400 million euros and 500 million investment obligations) for a giant such as NIS, is at least four times underestimated. In an informal circle, the minister even called an agreement with Moscow a real robbery. This position was partly supported by the international expert community. So, the audit company Deloitte & Touche estimated 100% of NIS shares at 2.2 billion euros, that is, 20% more than Gazprom.

Gazprom Neft managed to defend not only its right to buy, but also the initially agreed package price. According to Alexander Dyukov, the deal will be closed in the next six months. After signing the contract, Gazprom Neft will send an application for the permission of the transaction to the Serbian Antimonopoly Office, which by law has 130 days for consideration of the application. Thus, on May 1, it is an extreme term to complete the transaction, said the head of Gazprom Neft. The only thing that the company failed was to untie the NIS purchase from the remaining parameters of the intergovernmental agreement. The complex approach of Russia to the implementation of all three projects was confirmed yesterday by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Igor Sechin. “For all three projects, there is the possibility of coordination, coordination, which will pack our cooperation in the oil and gas sphere. This gives guarantees to the Serbian side that all three projects will be executed, ”he said. However, representatives of Gazprom are in no hurry to voice the deadlines for the implementation of these projects. According to the deputy chairman of the concern of Alexander Medvedev, the final investment decision on the Banatical Dvor PHG will be made no earlier than June 2009.

12/24/2008 / Oksana Gavshina, Anastasia Novikova, the material was published in the newspaper No. 246 dated December 25, 2008.