Marketwatch: Pipeline through Bulgaria tests EU resolve on Russia
If the European Union is serious about punishing Russia for grabbing Crimea and destabilizing Ukraine, it can show it by enforcing its own regulations and halting Russia’s planned gas pipeline across Bulgaria to Western Europe.
The $20 billion South Stream project is the centerpiece of Russia’s strategy of bypassing Ukraine while still remaining the principal gas supplier to the European Union. Gazprom , the energy giant closely linked to Vladimir Putin, is the main driver of South Stream, whose first phase places 500 miles of pipe under the Black Sea to the Bulgarian coast. Construction inside Russia has already begun.
Beijing and Moscow signed a contract to supply China with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Russian natural gas after a decade of difficult talks. Andrew Peaple explains what this means for the European energy market and the crisis in Ukraine.
Bulgaria’s pro-Russian socialist government calls South Stream strategic and vital to securing its energy security. But as a member of the European Union Bulgaria is obliged to follow EU regulations that require third-party access on connections into the EU energy grid.