Serbia's state-run gas company Srbijagas and Russian energy giant Gazprom have signed a contract on the supply of up to 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Serbia in 2010, Srbijagas said.
The documents were signed on Friday by Srbijagas and the Russian-Serbian gas trader Jugorosgas, in which Gazprom holds a 50% stake. The contract extends a previous agreement on gas supplies to Serbia, and guarantees the supply of up to 2 billion cubic meters of gas to the ex-Yugoslav republic in 2010, Srbijagas said.
"The contract with Jugorosgas is very advantageous for us as it takes into account seasonal uneven trends in fuel consumption," Srbijagas General Director Dusan Bajatovic said.
The contract does not stipulate penalties for failure to consume natural gas below the contracted volume, and the contract's financial guarantees are exceptionally small, at $10-15 million compared with the normal practice of $100-200 million, Bajatovic said.
Jugorosgas Executive Director Vladimir Koldin said the contract for 2010 would operate on terms similar to the previous agreement.
In 2008, Russia supplied 2.2 billion cubic meters of gas to Serbia.
MOSCOW, December 28 (RIA Novosti)
