Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 21 / Trend /
There's no question that French energy giant EDF will join the Russian-led South Stream pipeline project, New Europe reported according to consortium head Marcel Vietor.
"To me that's already a fact. We see this as a Russian-Italian-French venture. We are already getting support from the French government," European Energy Review quoted Marcel Vietor, the chief executive officer of the South Stream consortium, in an interview.
Gazprom, Italy's ENI as the main European backer of South Stream and EDF last summer signed a memorandum of understanding that the French utility would join the pipeline consortium by the end of 2010; the agreement hasn't been finalized. According to Gazprom Head Alexei Miller EDF will enter the South Stream project by late 2011.
South Stream gas pipeline was designed to transport Russian natural gas to Europe via the bottom of the Black Sea and then via Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary. The project is realized by Italy's ENI and Gazprom, which signed an agreement to build an offshore gas pipeline on June 23, 2007.
South Stream project envisages the creation of a new route of gas supplies to Europe. The project provides for South Stream's offshore section to run under the Black Sea from the Russian coast (Beregovaya compressor station) to the Bulgarian coast. The pipeline's capacity should reach 63 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Total investment in the project is estimated at 25 billion euros.