Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted at the International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg that the South Stream route could be changed, if EU continues putting a spoke into its wheels in this project.
“If we keep on having problems with the South Streams and Brussels continues putting a spoke into our wheels, then we will consider other options through the non EU member-states,” Interfax quoted Russian President as saying.
Putin said that in this case Brussels “will get another transit country.” European Parliament Deputies insist on toughening sanctions against Russia. If the European Commission, the EU executive body, listens to the recommendations of parliamentarians, then big energy projects, such as South Stream, could suffer from it.
South Stream is a global infrastructure project of Gasprom, which envisages construction of the gas pipeline with the capacity of 63 billion cub.m. through the Black Sea to the Southern and Central Europe. The first gas deliveries via the gas pipeline must begin at the end of 2015. The gas pipeline will reach the target capacity in 2018. The offshore section of the South Stream gas pipeline will pass through the Black Sea bottom from the Russian compressor station on the Russian coast to the Bulgarian coast. The total length of the Black Sea section will be over 930 km and its maximum depth – over 2 km. The ground section of the gas pipeline 1,455 km-long will pass through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia.
