OREANDA-NEWS. June 11, 2010. The Gazprom headquarters hosted today a meeting dedicated to the South Stream project execution. The meeting was held by Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company’s Management Committee.

The meeting brought together Alexander Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee; Viktor Ilyushin, Member of the Management Committee, Head of the Department of Relationships with Regional Authorities of the Russian Federation; Vlada Rusakova, Member of the Management Committee, Head of the Strategic Development Department; Leonid Chugunov, Head of the Project Management Department; as well as heads and experts from Gazprom’s structural units and subsidiary companies.

The meeting participants discussed the progress with the South Stream project execution and noted that the following tangible results had been achieved on schedule as a result of Gazprom’s efforts: engineering and reconnaissance surveys had been carried out in the Black Sea and a feasibility study for the pipeline’s offshore section had been completed.

Gazprom, as the South Stream initiator, is compiling a comprehensive feasibility study to summarize data on separate sections of the gas trunkline and developing the technical solutions needed to begin construction. The results of these activities and Gazprom’s great track record in large-scale international infrastructure projects planning and delivering will enable the Company to commence practical implementation of South Stream in 2013.

“We have no doubt in South Stream’s efficiency, relevance and feasibility. Moreover, owing to particular measures taken by Gazprom, we may say that South Stream is becoming a reality now,” said Alexey Miller.

Background

For the purpose of diversifying natural gas export routes Gazprom plans to construct a gas pipeline running under the Black Sea to South and Central Europe – the South Stream project.

The offshore section is to be laid under the Black Sea from the Russkaya compressor station on the Russian coast to the Bulgarian coast. Its total length will be  around 900 kilometers, maximum depth – over two kilometers. The annual throughput capacity of the South Stream offshore section will be up to 63 billion cubic meters.

Intergovernmental agreements were signed with Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria in order to implement the project’s onshore section beyond Russia.