Gazprom speeds up co-operation with Slovenia for South Stream project

Earlier this week, Slovenia joined the club of South European countries voicing its full support of Gazprom’s South Stream project to bring natural gas from the Black Sea to South Europe.

Samo Omerzel, Minister of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning, Government of Slovenia, pledged his government’s backing of South Stream, saying its construction was in the interests of Slovenia. According to Alexey Miller, Gazprom’s Chief Executive, South Stream will cut costs and improve energy security by bypassing nations such as Ukraine.

226 km of the 2835 km long pipeline will cross Slovenia on the way to Austria. In the first phase of construction existing pipeline is Slovenia will be used. In order to raise the capacity of the pipeline new pipes will be laid down.

Speeding up the design process
This week Gazprom and the Slovenian Government met to discuss the current status and co-operation between Russia and Slovenia in the gas sector. Special attention was paid to the South Stream project implementation in the republic of Slovenia.

During the meeting, Samo Omerzel and Chariman of Gazprom’s Management Committee Alexey Miller, agreed to speed up the design process of the Slovenian section of the gas pipeline.

Gazprom announced in a statement ‘At present, the work is nearing completion on the spatial planning and environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedures conducted under the national laws of Slovenia for the gas pipeline sections from the borders with Hungary and Italy.’

Edited from various sources by Hannah Priestley-Eaton

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