The Voice of Russia: South Stream project companies

There are currently four shareholders in the South Stream natural gas pipeline project. Gazprom is partnering with three European energy majors – Italy's Eni, France's EDF and Germany's BASF through its hydrocarbon subsidiary Wintershall. The latter is one of Gazprom's partners in the Nord Stream pipeline project on the Baltic seabed as well as in some gas field developments in Siberia.

Originally, South Stream was a 50-50 joint venture between Gazprom and Eni, but subsequently the Italian oil and gas company agreed to grant part of its share to two other partners. Back in 2011 EDF and Wintershall officially joined the project. Under the agreement, Eni retained a 20 percent share, while the new partners got 15 percent each. At this stage, the JV, which has been set to construct and operate the offshore section of the pipeline, is unlikely to be changed, analysts say. One of them is Grigory Birg, an investment analyst at Moscow-based independent analytical agency Investcafe.
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