Gazprom

"Early to speculate about South Stream route changes"

BELGRADE -- It is early to speculate about any potential new routes for the South Stream gas pipeline, Tanjug has learned from the Russian energy giant Gazprom.

Preparations for the construction of the Serbian stretch of the pipeline are going according to plan, the company said.

BELGRADE - Preparations for the construction of the Serbian stretch of the South Stream gas pipeline are going according to plan and it is early to speculate on any potential new routes, Tanjug has learned at Gazprom.

Russian energy firm Gazprom has prepared an alternative plan for the prospective South Stream natural gas pipeline’s route in the event that the project does not pass through Bulgaria, as originally intended, according to a Russian newspaper report.

Kiev is prepared to pay an interim compromise price for Russian gas, energy minister Yuri Prodan said, and criticised Russia's Gazprom for being unwilling to negotiate.

Gazprom could consider another route for South Stream if the EU continued to obstruct the construction of the Moscow-backed gas pipeline, a Russian journalist has suggested.

The announcement that Bulgaria has halted work on the South Stream project “could be a bit more serious” than the previous one, a gas analyst has commented.

The South Stream Bulgaria project company has increased its capital in defiance of orders to the contrary issued by caretaker energy minister Vasil Shtonov.

Ukraine has begun test imports of gas from Slovakia via an upgraded pipeline, the head of Ukrainian state-owned gas company Naftogaz said on Aug. 16, as the country tries to secure greater energy independence from Russia.

BELGRADE - Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Chepurin has said that the investigation into the sale of the formerly state owned oil company Naftna industrija Srbije (NIS) is a surprise to the Russian public and the majority shareholder, Gazprom Neft.

The South Stream pipeline project designed to carry Russian natural gas to the European Union bypassing Ukraine will probably remain on hold for years, Bloomberg has reported.