Gazprom to start South Stream construction in December

Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom said it has pushed forward the start of construction of the South Stream pipeline, designed to bypass countries such as Ukraine, through which Russian natural gas is now piped, to Europe, Reuters reports on Friday.

"The plan ... will allow us to start the gas pipeline construction as early as December 2012, not in 2013 as it had been planned before," Gazprom said, adding that the board of South Stream Transport AG will be presented with the construction timetable in February.

South Stream, a rival to European-backed pipeline projects to ship gas from the Caspian region, is expected to export around 63 billion cubic metres to southern Europe starting from 2015.

Gazprom owns 50 percent of the South Stream project, which is estimated to cost more than 15 billion euros ($19.3 billion). Italy's Eni has 20 percent, and France's EDF and Germany's Wintershall each own 15 percent.