Gazprom has offered to pay ?1 billion for a bundle of Serbian oil&gas assets including 51% of the State-ruled oil company NIS, 50% of the South Stream gas pipeline segment crossing the territory of Serbia and a part of the underground natural gas storage Banatski Dvor, report Serbian newspapers.
      
      The Serbian government is prepared to provide Gazprom with access to the oil and gas facilities of the country.
      
      Earlier the Serbian authorities planned to auction the controlling stake in NIS, but the Gazprom’s offer of ?1 billion may speed up the decision of the government.
      
      About ?500 million will be paid in cash, while the rest will be invested in NIS.
      The Serbian authorities determined to privatize the state monopoly Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) in order to collect enough funds for modernization of several NIS plants. Primarily only 25% of NIS stake estimated at $300mn was for sale, then, however, the size of the shareholding increased up to 51%.
      
      source:
      www.rbc.ru