Gazprom chief: Romania will not take Bulgaria's place in South Stream project

Romania will not be able to take Bulgaria’s place in the South Stream project, but its gas pipe can have a ramification that might go either through the sea, or through Bulgaria, Russian company Gazprom chief Aleksei Miller declared on Friday, according to RIA Novosti, quoted by Agerpres. „Romania showed interest. A ramification could be built, either through the sea, or from Bulgaria. This is the idea for now”, Miller declared.

He stressed that Gazprom led successful negotiations with Bulgaria and that yhe projects sticks to the graphic.

RIA Novosti reminds that in order to carry out the South Stream project – initiated by the Italian group ENI and Gazprom to transport gas from Russia to Europe through the Black Sea, avoiding Ukraine – the Russian part has signed contracts with Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia and Croatia.

Gazprom announced in a communiqué released in mid-February this year that Romania confirmed its interest in taking part in South Stream and sent the Russian part the data requested, needed to prepare the feasibility study for a possible route the gas pipe could take, namely through Romania. The announcement was made following a meeting between Gazprom vice-president Aleksandr Medvedev and Romanian Economy minister Adriean Videanu in Bucharest. Later, the Russian press read that Romania might take Bulgaria’s place in the project.