MOSCOW, February 15 (Itar-Tass) — On Wednesday Alexei Miller, the chief of Russia’s gas giant Gazprom, said that a final investment decision on the South Stream gas pipeline construction project would be taken in November.
“We’ve entered the stage of the real construction of South Stream,” he said at a meeting on the project’s implementation. “I can say without exaggeration that Gazprom is engaged in the project round-the-clock. This is an abnormally cold winter that caused high demand for Russian gas in Europe. This is one more confirmation of the fact that South Stream should be built. Europe needs new corridors for Russian gas supplies without transit countries.”
The South Stream gas pipeline will run under the Black Sea from Russia to South and Central Europe. The intergovernmental agreements to implement the project’s onshore section were signed with Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria.
On September 16, 2011, South Stream Transport AG signed a shareholders’ agreement to implement the project’s offshore section.
Gazprom owns 50 percent of shares in the project, Italy’s ENI – 20 percent, Germany’s Wintershall and France’s EDF - 15 percent each.