Energy

Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine, if the country doesn't pay its debts.

In a letter to 18 world leaders, the Russian head of state warned that Ukraine's USD 2.2 B debt for delivered gas means that supplies could be stopped, something which would affect the European Union as well.

The Management Board of the Bulgarian Petroleum and Gas Association (BPGA) elected Valentin Zlatev, CEO of fuel retailer Lukoil Bulgaria EOOD, as its Chair.

Zlatev was elected BPGA Chair at a regular meeting of the Management Board of the BPGA on April 8.

Aleksandar Vucic, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister, said that Serbia was preserving vital national interests with regard to the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline in cooperation with Russia.

"Serbia will protect its interests, but we are not the major player and we do not get to decide on the most important issues," Vucic said on Wednesday.

South Stream Transport signed a contract with Saipem for the construction of the first line of the South Stream Offshore Pipeline and the micro-tunnels for the 4 pipeline strings.

The contracts for the supply of the pipes have already been signed for the first two lines, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), citing a media statement of the company.

US multinational Chevron has announced it will begin in weeks its search for shale gas near the village of Pungesti in Eastern Romania, a day after mass environmental protests.

Drilling for gas will last 90 days, company officials were quoted by BalkanInsight as saying.

The European Commission has decided to introduce restrictions to subsidies allocated by the bloc for production of energy from renewable sources.

EU's executive arms took the step on Wednesday in an attempt to push electricity prices down, the Irish Independent reported.

JAGODINA - One of the leading manufacturers of kitchen furniture in Italy, the Bari-based Mobil Gruppo Turi Cucine, will open a production facility in Jagodina, central Serbia, planned to employ around 150 people.

The facility will be opened on Thursday by Serbia's outgoing Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, the government's media cooperation office released today.

“Romania is my country, Chevron will never poison it,” was one of the slogans chanted by protesters who rallied in Pungesti, a village in eastern Romania on Tuesday, who also booed US company officials and journalists when they entered the site where Chevron is to start exploration for shale gas.

Ukraine will temporarily stop buying Russian gas until the price issue is settled, the country's Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan announced Wednesday.

Prodan said that Kiev was not satisfied with the sum it has to pay from April 1 this year, as ITAR-TASS agency quoted him as saying.

The authorities in Belgrade have opposed the practice of Russian Gazprom, owner of a 56% stake in Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), pocketing the entire profit of the company.

Aleksandar Vucic, First Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, noted that the company had reached a profit of EUR 380 largely thanks to Serbian oil, not extraordinary managerial achievements.