OREANDA-NEWS. In the presence of Viktor Khristenko, Minister for Industry and Energy of the Russian Federation and Pier Luigi Bersani, Minister for Economic Development of Italy, Alexander Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Paolo Scaroni, Chief Executive Officer of ENI signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the South Stream project execution. The Memorandum was signed in the frames of the bilateral Agreement on strategic cooperation as of November 14, 2006.

The Memorandum sets the cooperation directions for both companies in the engineering, financing, construction and management sectors for the South Stream project.

Pursuant to the document, the South Stream marine section will lay across the Black Sea from the Russian coast (the Beregovaya compressor station) to the Bulgarian coast. The parties consider two different construction routes for the onshore section crossing the territory of the European Union member countries. Within the project execution Gazprom and ENI will utilize modern technologies in compliance with the strict environmental requirements.

“The South Stream project is aimed at strengthening the European energy security. The document signed today is a confirmation of the strategic partnership between Italy and the Russian Federation, which will be used to benefit the EU-Russia relationship,” said Pier Luigi Bersani, Minister for Economic Development of Italy.

“A challenge for the governments of both countries participating and potentially interested in the South Stream project is to create an efficient system for agreements supporting the initiative of the Russian and Italian companies. This is exactly the situation when the goal of the industrial project corresponds with the goals of the governments and population of a number of European countries,” stated Viktor Khristenko, Russian Federation Minister for Industry and Energy.

“The South Stream project is a third pillar for the Agreement on strategic cooperation signed by ENI and Gazprom in 2006. This new accord achieved for gas transmission will enable ENI to use at best recently purchased Artic Gas and Urengoil assets. The South Stream, whose execution foresees adherence of all the necessary requirements starting from environmental standards, represents a crucial step towards strengthening the European energy supply security,” said Paolo Scaroni, CEO of ENI.

“The Memorandum signed today – is a bright event channeled to further development of long-term, mutually beneficial and strategic partnership between Gazprom and ENI. It is another real step towards execution of the Gazprom strategy on route diversification of Russian natural gas supplies to European countries and a significant contribution to provision of the energy security in Europe,” said Alexander Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee.