Oettinger Says South Stream Acceptable for EU, Not Priority

EU energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger said the South Stream gas project is acceptable for the bloc but is not of priority importance for itat the moment, Russian media reported on Thursday.

"South Stream is fully acceptable but is not a priority at the moment," state-run news agency Itar-Tass quoted Oettinger as telling reporters in Brussels.

The South Stream gas pipeline, spearheaded by Gazprom, is planned to carry gas from Russia to central and southern Europe via Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia.

The future of the project, however, is uncertain because the European Commission has said it runs counter to EU law.

In June, the Bulgarian government said it halted the construction of the gas pipeline on its territory until it complies with EU legislation. In Serbia, a building contract has been signed up but works on the pipeline project are yet to begin in earnest.

The total value of the project is estimated at 16 billion euro ($20.5 billion).

Commercial operation of South Stream is scheduled to start by the end of 2015 with the pipeline reaching its full capacity of some 63 billion cubic metres per year by 2017.

The offshore part of the South Stream project, with a length of 931 kilometres, will run from Russia's Black Sea shore across the Turkish exclusive economic zone to the Bulgarian coast near Varna and will consist of four pipeline strings with annual capacity expected to reach 63 billion cubic metres.

Source: SeeNews