Pipeliners

MOSCOW, Mar 27, 2009 (Prime-Tass) -- Russia’s natural gas monopoly Gazprom has a firm intention to complete the South Stream gas pipeline project in 2015 despite the ongoing economic crisis, the company’s Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev said Friday, ITAR-TASS reported. Gazprom is also currently considering increasing the annual throughput capacity of the proposed pipeline to 47 billion cubic meters from 30 billion cubic meters planned initially, Medvedev said. Medvedev added that the company planned to complete the feasibility study of the project by the end of this year. The final agreement on the implementation of the South Stream project is expected to be signed in Bulgaria at the end of April, Medvedev also said. The South Stream pipeline is expected to be built by Gazprom and Italian energy company Eni. The pipeline will run from Russia under the Black Sea to Bulgaria and then branch into two stretches. The first stretch is expected to run to the southwest via Bulgaria and Greece to Italy, while the second stretch is expected to run to the northwest to Austria.