Russia hasn’t entirely abandoned the South Stream gas pipeline project, President Vladimir Putin has said.
South Stream was meant to diversify Russian gas supplies to Europe; it had never been seen as an alternative to the Nord Stream-2 project, Putin said at a meeting with the CEOs of the world’s leading news agencies on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday, according to TASS.
The South Stream project was designed to carry Russian gas to southeastern and central Europe via a pipeline under the Black Sea coming ashore in Bulgaria.
Nord Stream-2 is a project designed to double the capacity of the existing pipeline delivering gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea and take direct supplies to other EU countries such as the UK, France and the Netherlands.
Russia had to cancel the construction of the pipeline after Bulgaria refused to grant permission citing objections of the European Commission.
Putin said earlier this month that Moscow had abandoned neither South Stream, nor Turkish Stream, another project to carry Russian gas to Europe.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said last week that Moscow was readyto consider any options for gas deliveries to Greece and Italy, including through Bulgaria, but any decision for building the infrastructure rested with the European Commission.
(www.novinite.com)
