South Stream Transport, the operating company for the underwater section of the South Stream gas pipeline project aimed at bringing Russian gas across the Black Sea to Europe, expects to start laying pipe in 2014, after receiving all of the necessary approvals from the countries involved, consortium spokesman Sebastian Sass said Wednesday.
"We estimate that all permits needed for the construction will be received in 2014 at the latest, so that we can start deepwater work," he told reporters at a briefing in Moscow.
The South Stream pipeline will bring up to 63 billion cubic meters/year of Russian gas across the Black Sea to Bulgaria, from where the route will go to Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia, and on to northern Italy.
Gazprom owns a 50% interest in the consortium building the subsea section of the line, along with Italy's Eni (20%), France's EDF (15%) and the energy unit of Germany's BASF, Wintershall (15%).
The onland sections will be built by Gazprom in cooperation with local companies.
The underwater section of the pipeline will cross the territorial waters of Russia, Turkey and Bulgaria, and also includes short onshore parts, known as landfall sections, in Russia and Bulgaria.
Gazprom-led group to start laying underwater South Stream gas pipeline in 2014
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