MOSCOW, January 24 (RIA Novosti) - An agreement to sell 51% in Serbia's NIS oil company to Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian energy giant Gazprom, will be signed on Friday, a source in the Kremlin said on Thursday.

"Intergovernmental agreements on cooperation in the oil and gas sphere and a protocol on the basic terms of Gazprom Neft's acquisition of a 51% stake in Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) will be signed in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Serbian President Boris Tadic, and Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica in Moscow on January 25," the source said.

He said the sale of a controlling interest in Serbia's largest oil company would open up prospects of the company's development on a mutually advantageous basis, and guarantee long-term and stable supplies of energy products to the Serbian market.