Trend: Frank Umbach: South Stream was geopolitical rather than economic project
South Stream gas pipeline project has been initially designed as a geopolitical rather than economic project, and Europe actually never needed it, Frank Umbach, Research Director at the European Centre for Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS) believes.
The pipeline was not really considered to bring new gas supplies to Europe, according to Umbach.
Umbach said that South Stream would have increased political pressure on Ukraine, which is still dependent on Russian gas. He also said with South Stream Ukraine's negotiation power would've declined, along with decreasing Russian gas exports through Ukraine to Europe.