*

Serbia's seeks new gas contract with Russia for 3 or 10

years,

Srbijagas CEO says

*

Serbia's price for Russian gas has been "more or less"

agreed

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Srbijagas CEO supports idea of US investors buying Nord

Stream

pipeline

By Gleb Bryanski

ST PETERSBURG, June 18 (Reuters) - Serbia is working on

a new gas deal with Russia and will get the best price in

Europe, the head of its state gas company told Reuters in an

interview on Wednesday.

Dusan Bajatovic, the head of Srbijagas, also said Europe -

just like Serbia - would have no other option but to go back to

Russian gas to cover its energy needs at reasonable cost.

Serbia is one of the last remaining Russian gas buyers in

Europe, receiving around 3 billion cubic metres last year. It is

seeking membership of the European Union, which this week

proposed a legally binding ban on imports of Russian gas and

liquefied natural gas (LNG) by the end of 2027.

Bajatovic said the new contract with Gazprom would run from

September, with a duration of either three or 10 years.

"The issue of price is more or less resolved. It will be

very good, it will be the best price in Europe," Bajatovic said.

He declined to give details, as commercial talks were still

going on.

Bajatovic said the future of the gas market would be shaped

by Russia and the United States, as producers, and China as a

major consumer, and Europe would have to live with it.

"It is mathematics. You cannot solve the equation of gas

supplies to Europe at acceptable prices without the Russian

gas," he said on the sidelines of Russia's main economic

conference in St Petersburg, which has been shunned by most

Western CEOs because of the war in Ukraine.

Bajatovic said he fully supported the idea of U.S. investors

buying the Nord Stream gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea, which

was severely damaged by explosions in 2022 and has not delivered

gas since then.