Could South Stream Be An Elaborate Bluff?

Could the plan to build the world’s most expensive natural gas pipeline turn out to be an elaborate bluff.

Despite years of promotion, the cost and even the exact route for South Stream pipeline project, backed by Gazprom, the monopoly exporter of Russia’s natural gas, are still unclear.

Nevertheless, the plan already has served a valuable purpose for Russia by casting further doubt on the viability of rival projects that would loosen Moscow’s grip on the European market. It has also weakened the bargaining power of middlemen like Ukraine that have sought to cash in on their strategic location.

“More than ever South Stream looks like an implausibly huge and risky investment,” said Christian Egenhofer, an energy expert at the Center for European Policy Studies, a research group in Brussels. “But the more that South Stream appears real, the more that Russia can beguile Europe into thinking that alternatives to Russian gas are unnecessary.”

Read the Full Article from the New York Times HERE