Vestnik Kavkaza: Dim prospects of South Stream – 1

The news of the readiness of Russia to finance the construction of a part of “South Stream” in Serbia revived an interest in this project. However, there are a lot of questions which touch on not only Russia, but also its partners in the Caspian region.

Where does the money come from?

The final cost of the project is still unknown. The deputy head of Gazprom, Vitaly Markelov, states that the company still has not decided on the cost of the sea part of the gas pipeline “South Stream” which is planned to be built through the Black Sea, passing by Ukraine. “At the moment preliminary work is being carried out. Yesterday, for instance, we had talks on pipe supplies for underwater and surface parts,” he said.

At the moment, the works are being carried out at the so-called “East corridor” – a system of gas pipelines running to the south of Russia, the bank of the Black Sea. According to Markelov, today the “East corridor” is 880 km of pipelines, 230 km of which are ready.  MORE