Alexander Medvedev, the deputy director of the Russian energy giant Gazprom, says the South Stream pipeline should be on EU list of priority projects. Photo by BGNES
Gazprom will sign agreements with Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece for its new South Stream gas pipeline to Europe this year, the deputy director of the Russian energy giant told Vesti TV channel.
According to Alexander Medvedev the technical and economic assessments of all sections in the project should be prepared in 2009. He also said that Gazprom will insist that the European Union puts the South Stream pipeline on its list of priority projects.
The 10 billion euro South Stream pipeline, which Gazprom and Italian oil firm Eni plan to build, will bypass Ukraine, the biggest and most politically troubled route for Russian gas to Europe. It is seen as a rival to Nabucco and will take Russian gas under the Black Sea to southeast Europe.
Russia has already secured Bulgarian, Hungarian and Greek participation in the project and has won the right to route South Stream through Serbia.