Vestnik Kavkaza: South Stream: better a horrifying end than endless horror

Moscow and Ankara plan to discuss construction of a new gas pipeline, they are currently analyzing options for the route. Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said that the new gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey to replace the failed South Stream project of Gazprom may run under the Black Sea to the European part of Turkey.

The Russian oil and gas industry has been facing serious challenges in the last months. Russian President Vladimir Putin scrapped the South Stream construction on December 1, blaming the EU for allegedly being unconstructive and Bulgaria for bureaucracy. Meanwhile, oil prices took a sudden fall. Gennady Shmal, the president of the Union of Oil and Gas Industrialists of Russia, a member of the Council for Information and Cooperation of Enterprises of the Fuel and Energy Complex, still believes that Russia may take advantage of the situation in the mid or long-term developments.

The expert expressed disappointment over the failure of South Stream because of the colossal work and time wasted to come to agreements with all the countries involved, projecting work done, $5 billion spent by Gazprom.  MORE