Consortium Sets Route of South Stream Pipeline

South Stream has announced an altered route for the project which will see the pipeline run to northern Italy, rather than Austria as originally planned.

The route will run from the Black Sea to Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia and then to Italy. Gas pipeline branches are planned to be connected with Greece, Croatia and the Serbian Republic.

Gazprom has abandoned its original plan of gas transport to the hub of Austria’s Baumgarten and construction of the pipeline through Greece and the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy.

Gazprom also ruled out the replacement of Bulgaria, which had been dragging the project out for years, with Romania. The Bulgarian government made the Russian pipeline a facility of national significancee.

Gazprom was initially planning to join the hub at Baumgarten, with its well-developed underground storage facilities and the operator of the Central European Gas Hub.

However, last summer Aleksandr Medvedev, Gazprom’s vice-president announced that the European Commission began to insist on unacceptable terms, effectively blocking the deal.

One of the explanations was Brussels was not sure of relying on steady supplies of gas from Nabucco partner states, thus barring Gazprom’s access to the Austrian gas trading facility.

The South Stream consortium consists of Gazprom (50%), ENI SpA (20%), and Wintershall Holding and EDF having 15% each.