Russia Resumes Internal Pipe Project: Press

Russia’s Gazprom plans to resume work on the Pochinki-Anapa pipeline, originally designed to feed gas into the now-abandoned South Stream under the Black Sea, Moscow-based news agency RBC reported on July 19.

Pochinki-Anapa formed the eastern section of Russia’s planned Southern Corridor – a network of domestic pipelines intended to supply gas to Europe via the 63bn m³/yr South Stream. Moscow dropped plans to build the South Stream in 2014 in the face of EU opposition, and subsequently unveiled the 31.5bn m³/yr TurkStream in its stead. A year later it also axed the Southern Corridor project as well.

Citing tender documents, however, RBC said Gazprom had decided to continue work on the 1,625.6-km Pochinki-Anapa pipeline. However, the pipeline's purpose is now to meet demand in Russia’s coastal Krasnodar territory, rather than support exports.

More than 500 km of Pochinki-Anapa had been built at the time of its cancellation in 2015. The 472-km western section of Southern Corridor, Pisarevka-Anapa, had already been completed by then.