South Stream Moves On With Offshore Pipes Agreement

The South Stream project moved forward on Wednesday, with the signing of contracts for its offshore section to be constructed from autumn 2014. 

The South Stream Transport clinched a €1 billion agreement with Germany’s Europipe (50% of the whole volume), United Metallurgical Company (35%) and Severstal (15%). 

“The time has come to move on to the gas pipeline construction stage,” Oleg Aksyutin, Chief Executive Officer of South Stream Transport B.V., commented in a note released on Wednesday.

The pipes will be stockpiled at temporary bases on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. The offshore section construction will start in autumn 2014, while the first offshore line is scheduled to start operations in December 2015. 

Recently, the High Expert Ecological Council of Bulgaria’s Ministry of Environment and Waters has given its unanimous consent for the construction of gas pipeline South Stream on Bulgarian soil.