By Gabriele Steinhauser
BRUSSELS--The European Union said Tuesday it will continue to
work with its member states on finding a deal with Russia to build
a gas pipeline though southeastern Europe, despite an announcement
by Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, that the project has been
abandoned.
"The next meeting [on the South Stream pipeline] had been
planned for the 9 December 2014 and it will take place regardless
of the announcement by Russia to stop the project," the EU's vice
president for energy, Maros Sefcovic, said. "Obviously this new
development will be an additional element that will be discussed in
that meeting."
Saipem SpA, which has a EUR2 billion ($2.49 billion) contract to
install the first subsea line for South Stream, said it hasn't been
contacted about Russia's plans to terminate the project and is
continuing to carry out its work. A Saipem ship in charge of laying
the gas pipes left Bulgaria yesterday to reach the Russian Black
Sea coast.
The $20 billion South Stream project ran into trouble earlier
this year when the European Commission, the EU's executive arm,
said that national agreements on the pipeline with Moscow were
illegal under EU law. The pipeline, designed to transport Russian
gas underneath the Black Sea to Bulgaria and other countries in
southeastern Europe, would have allowed Russian gas to bypass
Ukraine, whose disputes with Moscow have stopped supplies to the EU
in the past.
But Mr. Putin announced Monday that failure to reach a deal on
South Stream with Bulgaria had lead Russia to drop the project and
instead build a pipeline through Turkey. "We couldn't get necessary
permissions from Bulgaria, so we cannot continue with the project.
We can't make all the investment just to be stopped at the
Bulgarian border," Mr. Putin said in Ankara where he is on a state
visit. "Of course, this is the choice of our friends in
Europe."
Eric Sylvers contributed to this article.
Write to Gabriele Steinhauser at
gabriele.steinhauser@wsj.com
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