Gazprom pledges to start building South Stream earlier than 2013
MOSCOW. Jan 20 (Interfax) - Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller conducted at meeting on Friday devoted to the South Stream pipeline project, at which it was decided to start building it this year as per Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's instructions to speed up the commencement of the project.
A Gazprom statement says a detailed plan of measures was approved at the meeting that will allow for the construction to begin not in 2013 as earlier planned, but this December.
"Gazprom has everything necessary for substantially advancing the announced timeframes for the building of South Stream. For this we already have an international legal basis, enormous interest from all members of the project in Europe, the necessary financial resources, and unique experience in carrying out large-scale maritime gas-transport projects. The project is needed and awaited, we are beginning its realization," the statement quotes Miller as saying.
Gazprom's construction schedule will be submitted to the board of directors at South Stream Transport AG in February.
South Stream will have throughput capacity of as much as 63 billion cubic meters and the pipeline will bypass Ukraine. Towards the implementation of the European dry-land part of the project Russia has signed intergovernmental agreements with Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Austria, and Croatia. The partners for the underwater part of the pipeline are Gazprom (50%), Italian energy company ENI (20%), Germany's Wintershall (15%), and EDF of France (15%). A joint feasibility study for the project was completed in the third quarter of last year - combining studies for both the onshore and offshore sections.
