The South Stream gas pipeline construction is according to schedule and it will start working at the end of 2015, said Aleksei Miller, Gasprom chairman, at the session of the European Business Congress.
He said reliability of gas deliveries to Europe could be increased at the expense of diversification of the routes, one of which is South Stream. The reliability of deliveries is especially urgent now for the EU, because of fears of Russian gas transit through Ukraine.
Construction of the offshore section of the gas pipeline as well as works in Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary are according to the schedule. There are no doubts that the first gas will be pumped to Bulgaria through the South Stream gas pipeline at the end of last year,” Miller said.
Russia has started hearing on the European Union Third Energy Packet in the World Trade Organization (WTO). The document does not allow the companies extracting gas to be owners of the pipelines located in their regions, which creates serious obstacles for the South Stream.
