The Economist: Dreams not streams: Bulgaria still hopes South Stream can be saved

Free stuff is nice. Though some bemoaned its geopolitical overtones, in business terms Russia’s South Stream pipeline across the Black Sea and south-eastern Europe offered a good deal. The shareholders of Gazprom would pay for its construction and the gas supplied would be cheap, abundant and reliable.

Now a cash-strapped Russia has abruptly cancelled the project, blaming interference from the European Union, which said the plans broke energy-market rules. Bulgaria—the neediest country in the region—still hopes that South Stream can be saved. But other projects are on the table as the countries concerned scramble to find alternatives to the 63 billion cubic metres (bcm) which South Stream would have delivered.

Russia’s behaviour has boosted the EU’s planned Energy Union. The commissioner responsible, Maroš Šefčovič, met energy chiefs from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Romania and Slovenia on December 9th to talk about accelerating plans for better interconnection and integration of the still-fragmented regional gas market.
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