Gazprom stands against Nabucco project

The Russian giant natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, was invited to join the European gas project Nabucco, but will decline the offer, remaining a supporter of the South Stream project. At the same time, Romania risks a delicate situation, since Nabucco seems to have lost its European support.

Gazprom vice president Alexander Medvedev declared in an interview for Vesti TV that Gazprom will focus on its own project, South Stream, and will not involve in the Nabucco project.

„Unlike Nabucco, we have everything we need to make South Stream become reality. We have the resources, the market, appropriate management and the experience required to implement complex projects”, said Medvedev, adding that the group is not ready to work on two projects simultaneously.

The South Stream pipeline was designed to carry 31 billion cubic meters of gas per year from Russia and Central Asia towards the Balkans and other European states.

Romania was hoping in the realization of the Nabucco project, worth 10 billion Euros, which was at first also supported by the European Union and the United States. Nabucco would connect Central Asia and Europe, via Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Romania, Hungary and Austria, by-passing Russia and Ukraine. The construction was first scheduled to begin in 2010.

On Monday, EU officials confirmed that Nabucco is no longer among the energy projects about to receive European financing.