Voice of Russia: Gazprom to launch South Stream project
On Friday, Russia’s state-run gas-monopoly Gazprom will launch the South Stream project in the Krasnodar region in southern Russia. This project together with the Nord Stream will be another guarantee of uninterrupted supply of Russian energy to Europe.
Experts say that the South Stream project consists of two large-scale projects. The first is the construction of a gas pipeline through the Black Sea, while the second is the creation of a pipeline network in Southern and Central Europe.
The South Stream will link the Russian port of Dzhubga with the Bulgarian port of Varna by a pipeline laid on the bottom of the Black Sea. Then pipelines will be laid from Bulgaria to Italy through Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia. It has been planned to build a branch to Macedonia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The new large-scale project is advantageous to all participants, says president of Russia’s Oil and Gas Producers Union Gennady Shmal.
“The South Stream is necessary to assure an entry of the Russian gas to southern Europe, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, and other countries. Russia is interested in this pipeline because it will get a direct entry to them bypassing transit-countries. Notably, we have to pay for transit. In fact, the South Stream pipeline is also passing through the Turkish shelf, and we’ll have to pay for it too. However, this price is less than the one we used to pay to Ukraine,” Gennady Shmal said. MORE