Gazprom has received Turkey“s permission for sea research on the South Stream project, head of the department for foreign economic activities Pavel Oderov said, RIA Novosti reports.
The official said that Gazprom will need to do research on the stage of front-end engineering design (FEED). It will provide additional information and will be the basis for permission to construct a pipe, Oderov said.
There are three route versions, all ending in Italy: through Bulgaria, then Serbia-Hungary-Austria; through Bulgaria, then Serbia-Hungary-Slovenia-Italy; Greece-south Italy.
The South Stream is planned to diversify the routes of natural gas transport to European consumers through the Black Sea.
Turkish authorities were expected to give permission for construction of the pipeline on October 31, 2010, however Russia has not received any documents. Russian Ambassador to Turkey Vladimir Ivanovsky said that Turkey has more questions regarding the feasibility study of the project.
Russian Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko said that Turkey“s dragging of the process will no affect the terms of completion of the project. Gazprom head Alexey Miller said that realization of the project is going according to schedule. The first pipeline will be launched in December 2015.
Gazprom and Eni (Italy) founded a joint company South Stream AG in January 2008 to realize the project.
Gazprom head Alexey Miller and CEO of the BSF CE Jurgen Hambrecht signed a memorandum on mutual understanding, which includes joining the Wintershall Holding with a share of 15%. EdF (France) also entered the project last year with a share of 10% coming from Eni reducing its share. Italian share in the project dropped to 25% after entrance of Wintershall in the project.
