Russian national major Gazprom's Head Alexei Miller met italian concern ENI CEO Paolo Scaroni and signed agreements with Slovenia, Hungary and Serbia. The European Commission does not support the increase of Russian gas supplies to Europe.
A 3600 km length pipeline is going to increase Russian gas supplies to Europe and endanger European energetic security. On Tuesday 11/13 the Head of Russian national gas major Gazprom Alexei Miller sentenced the Southstream pipeline's building is going to start next 12/7.
The decision has been taken on Monday 11/12 when Miller met Italian concern ENI CEO Paolo Scaroni. As Natural Gas Europe reported, Miller and Scaroni fixed Southstream construction's start on December 2012, and estimate the pipeline will start delivering Russian gas to Europe since 2015.
An agreement between Gazprom and the Slovene energetic company Plinovodi ensures Southstream construction in Slovenia, and similar agreements have already been signed also with Serbian and Hungarian national authorities. Next Thursday 11/15 also Bulgaria is expected to give the green light to the Southstream's realization.
The Southstream pipeline is planed to increase Russian gas supplies to Europe and block the EU gas supplies's diversification project which has been planed by European Commission to carry gas from Azerbaijan directly to Europe.
The "Orthodox Pipeline" - as the Southstream has been named - will deliver 63 bcm of Russian gas per year from Russia to the Italian town of Treviso, in the Veneto region, via Black Sea seabed, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia.
Southstream's shareholders are Russian national major Gazprom - which is controlled by the Kremlin - Italian concern ENI, German company Wintershall and French company EDF.
The "Orthodox Pipeline" has been planed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi in 2009 in order to deliver Russian gas directly to Italy and decrease Gazprom and ENI's dependence on transit-states.
Berlusconi's decision about the Southstream pipeline has been strongly criticized by the European Commission because the "Orthodox Pipeline"'s realization will increase Russia's hegemony on the EU gas market.
Russia, which already covers the 40% of EU internal gas need, uses energetic resources to reach political goals. For this reason, the European Commission conceived a plan to differ EU gas supplies carrying gas from Azerbaijan by the so called EU Southern Corridor.
The EU Southern Corridor comprises several pipelines as the Nabucco: a 3893 km length pipeline planed to carry 30 bcm of Azeri gas from Turkey to Austria via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.
Nabucco's shareholders are Austrian company OMV, Hungarian MOL, Romanian Transgaz, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, and German RWE. The pipeline is politically supported by the European Commission and the governments of Austria, Hungary, Romania, Turkey and Bulgaria.
Another EU Southern Corridor's pipeline is the Trans Adriatic Pipeline - TAP - conceived to carry 21 bcm of Azeri gas per year from the Turkish-Greek border to the Italian town of Brindisi, in the Apulia region, via Greece and Albania.
TAP shareholders are Norwegian concern Statoil, Swiss company EGL and German E.On. The Trans Adriatic Pipeline is politically supported by the governments of Greece, Albania and Italy, after technical PM Mario Monti on September 2012 repositioned Italian energetic policy from a national perspective to a more European one.
Last EU Southern Corridor Pipeline is the Trans Anatolian Pipeline - TANAP - conceived to deliver 31 bcm of Azeri gas from Turkey and Georgia's border to Turkish western coasts.
TANAP shareholders are Azeri concern SOCAR, British concern BP, Norwegian concern Statoil, Turkish companies Botas and TPAO, and French company Total. The Trans Anatolian Pipeline is politically supported by Azerbaijan and Turkey.
An endorsement to the EU Southern Corridor has been expressed also by Germany. On Monday 11/12 the German presidential delegate for foreign affairs Kornelia Piper sentenced Azerbaijan plays a fundamental role in order to decrease - and not resign at all - EU dependence on Russian gas supplies.
Matteo Cazzulani
