ATHENS - Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller is in Athens today where the Greek government expressed its desire to revive plans to build the South Stream gas pipeline’s branch to Greece frozen by the Russian gas monopoly.
“The partnership dynamic with Gazprom could become even stronger with the construction of the branch of South Stream to Greece, securing in this way a new, modern and safe supply route for Russian natural gas to Greece,” Greece’s Energy Minister Yiannis Maniatis said in his speech at a conference south of Athens.
Russia and Greece signed an intergovernmental agreement in 2008 on co-operation in construction and operation of the Greek section of South Stream.
However, Gazprom later froze plans for South Stream’s branch to Greece and southern Italy, focusing instead on the Southern Stream’s route through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia to northern Italy.
EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger told an EU press briefing on 28 May that the EU is in close contact with the relevant member states.
“It’s not very clear exactly what route the pipeline would take and what volumes of gas should be transported to what member states. Austria, as one of the recipient countries, has raised its profile in this area and we saw that recently,” he said, referring to Austria’s decision to sign a memorandum on the implementation of the Austrian section of South Stream on 29 April.
“But South Stream would probably take about three years, probably even longer before it’s running at full capacity,” Oettinger said. “So as far as short-term measures are concerned it’s not really an issue. It’s the transit countries such as Ukraine which are on the forefront of our concerns at present,” he said.
Gazprom has spearheaded efforts to accelerate South Stream’s northern route in an effort to diversify gas routes within the European Union and to provide stable gas supplies from Russia to central and southern Europe. The total value of the project is estimated at some €16 billion.
See also:
Putin hopes to avoid getting tough with Ukraine over gas
EU can’t broker Russia-Ukraine gas deal yet
EU Leaders Not Ready To Break With Putin
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