/ world today news/ “We can confirm that “South Stream” is closed”. This was stated by the press center of “Gazprom”.
“We are currently planning the construction of a new gas pipeline to Turkey. This project is at an early stage of implementation,” says the comment of the Russian gas holding.
“Gazprom President” Alexey Miller and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of “Botash Petroleum Pipeline Corporation” Mehmed Konuk signed a Memorandum of Understanding on December 1 in Ankara, which is the basis for the new project,” Gazprom said.
BGNES recalls that on December 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced during his visit to Ankara that Moscow was abandoning the South Stream gas pipeline project. Instead, Russia will build a new pipeline along the bottom of the Black Sea that will connect the Russian coast to the Turkish coast. The capacity of the new pipe, which later began to be called “Turkish Stream”, will be 63 billion cubic meters. gas, as much as the capacity of the stopped “South Stream”. The Russian side also proposed to build a gas hub on the Turkish-Greek border.
From December 1 to this day, all Russian officials, including Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Energy Minister Alexander Novak, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Gazprom President Alexey Miller have repeatedly stated that the South Stream project is closed, and “Turkish Stream” is on the agenda. This position of Moscow was also confirmed in the middle of last week, when the vice-president of the European Commission, Maros Šefčovič, visited Russia. Then he was asked by Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov to probe Moscow’s position on the future of South Stream and the proposed gas hub project near Varna.
Although Russia gave up on South Stream already on December 1, Bulgaria intends to continue with the implementation of the project. This became clear from the government program of the “Borisov” cabinet, which was officially presented today. As long as there is no official decision on the suspension of this project, “South Stream” remains in the management program of the government, said the Deputy Prime Minister for coalition politics and state administration Rumyana Bachvarova.
The South Stream gas pipeline was a global energy project that aimed to diversify the delivery routes of Russian gas to the countries of the European Union. If it were implemented, Bulgaria would become a gateway for Russian natural gas to Southern and Central Europe.
Moscow / Russia
#Gazprom #South #Stream #closed
