Options for building gas pipeline in Crimea under discussion
TOMSK. March 21 (Interfax) - A gas pipeline to Crimea from the Russian mainland could be built in one of two ways, according to Tomsk Region Governor and former Gazprom Transgaz Krasnodar Sergei Zhvachkin said.
"There are various options. There is the station Kazachya, not far Anapa, a new compressor station is being built there. [From there a pipeline] could go through the Kerch Strait and go through Taman fairly quickly. A second option is [laying a pipeline] along the Black Sea floor, there are no problems with the technology there," Zhvachkin told reporters on Friday.
The deputy chief of the Gazprom management board, Vitaly Markelov, discussed the Crimea situation at the expert level, he said.
Zhvachkin said building a gas pipeline to Crimea could take a year to a year and a half. The gas pipeline "can technically be built in a year," he said.
Crimea produces more gas than it consumes, he said. "Extraction covers their needs fully. That which they write - 4.5 billion cubic meters are needed - this involves future electric power stations for the generation of capacity," he said.
Zhvachkin expressed the view that resolving the shortage of power on the peninsula can be done expeditiously. "As a technical engineer, I don't see a problem, say, in ten days' time running a cable across the Black Sea floor and resolving the energy problem through the Kerch Strait using Russia's energy system," he said.
Asked about the possibility of rerouting South Stream to build it through the strait, Zhvachkin said that it would be a very complicated process. "The way South Stream runs already cannot be changed. There are so many countries [involved], and changing anything needs coordination of all the countries," he said.
A spokesman for the regional administration told Interfax later that Zhvachkin was expressing his personal, unofficial opinion based on his previous work experience. Reports concerning a discussion about construction of a gas pipeline in Crimea by Gazprom are untrue, the spokesman said.
