MOSCOW, November 15 (Itar-Tass) — Russian and Bulgaria made the final investment decision on the South Stream gas pipeline project. The document was inked after the talks between Executive Director of the Bulgarian State Energy Holding Mikhail Andonov, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and his deputy Alexander Medvedev.
"We've signed the investment decision on South Stream; it's the final agreement of the two countries to begin project implementation. Bulgaria is becoming the largest country to transport Russian natural gas to Europe. Most importantly, gas will be supplied directly to Bulgaria. Therefore, Bulgarian consumers will receive Russian gas in full measure always and on time," the Gazprom CEO said.
To diversify the route of natural gas supplies, Gazprom is implementing the project to build a gas pipeline across the Black Sea to countries of South and Central Europe. The offshore stretch of the pipeline will run across the bottom of the Black Sea from the Russkaya booster station on the Russian coast to the Bulgarian coast. The total length of the Black Sea section will reach over 900 kilometers, the maximum depth is more than two kilometers, and rated throughput capacity is 63 billion cubic meters.
The supplies are to begin in late 2015.
Gazprom signed separate intergovernmental agreements with Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria to implement the land phase of the project.