AP: Russia’s Gazprom inches closer to finalizing South Stream pipeline agreement

Russian gas giant Gazprom advanced its plan to lay a major pipeline network across Europe by striking a deal on Tuesday with Slovenia.

The South Stream pipeline project, due to start operating in 2015, is set to pump up to 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually. The gas would be piped from Russia under the Black Sea to Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria and Italy in one leg, and to Croatia and Greece in a second. Russia provides about a third of Europe’s natural gas consumption. Last year, Gazprom exported about 180 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

The project is funded by Gazprom, which owns 50 percent in the pipeline, with the other half owned by partners France’s EdF, Italy’s Eni and Germany’s Wintershall.

Gazprom’s chief executive Alexei Miller said Tuesday that the final investment agreement on the South Stream would be unveiled on Wednesday while construction would begin on Dec. 7 on the Russian Black Sea’s coast.  MORE