Serbia interested in Nabucco, but gives priority to South Stream

"Serbia's priority now is the construction of South Stream, which, unlike Nabucco, has reliable gas sources," Dusan Bajatovic told Belgrade's Politika daily.

Serbia earlier said it was also backing Nabucco in order to contribute to the diversification and security of gas supplies to Europe.

The Western-backed Nabucco pipeline project, estimated at 7.9 billion euros ($11 billion), is designed to pump Central Asian gas via Turkey to Austria and Germany through Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. The pipeline, intended to bypass Russia, is due to go on stream in 2014.

The Nabucco project is seen as a rival to Russia's South Stream gas pipeline. South Stream, estimated at about 24 billion euros ($34 billion), is designed to annually pump 31 billion cubic meters of Central Asian and Russian gas to the Balkans and onto other European countries, with the pipeline's capacity expected to be eventually increased to 63 bcm annually.

Russia's transit disputes with its former Soviet neighbors have raised concerns in Europe about too much energy dependence on Russia; Kazinform cites RIA Novosti.

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