Slovenian PM to sign agreement for gas pipeline

The signing will take place in Moscow on the same day the national squads of the two countries will play at the football World Cup.

Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor will sign a deal in Russia on Saturday for the construction through its territory of the massive South Stream gas pipeline to Europe, a government minister said Thursday.

- Negotiations have been successfully concluded, therefore we will sign the deal on Saturday - Economy Minister Matej Lahovnik told journalists in Ljubljana.

He said the South Stream pipeline is extremely important for Slovenia - especially in light of the dispute we are permanently witnessing between Russia and Ukraine and the trouble in supply through the existing network. -

Lahovnik announced last spring the deal would be signed in June but negotiations over the jointly owned company that would construct the pipeline were prolonged and concluded only last Friday.

The pipeline through Slovenia, with a capacity of some 10 billion cubic metres, will be constructed by a company co-owned by Russia's gas giant Gazprom and Slovenia's gas distributor Geoplin Plinovodi.

The signing will take place in Moscow on the same day the national squads of the two countries will play at the football World Cup play-offs.

South Stream is one of two major gas pipeline projects that Russia is developing, aimed at consolidating its commanding position in supplies of gas to Europe.