Belgrade: The pipeline deal between Russia, Italy, Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece envisages completion of the project by 2015

(birn) The pipeline deal between Russia, Italy, Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece envisages completion of the project by 2015. During the often blazing heat that suffocates Serbia during the summer, it can be easy to forget how close, last winter the whole country came to freezing, when a dispute broke out between Russia and Ukraine, shutting off gas supplies to great swathes of South Eastern Europe. With Serbia’s main source of gas coming from Russia via Hungary, the need for diversification of the country’s supply suddenly seemed more urgent, lest the former Soviet republics fall out with one another again as temperatures plummet.

Step in, the South Stream pipeline project, which though it will once more originate in Russia, will traverse the Black Sea, pass through Bulgaria and then Serbia and on to Italy from there. Hopes are growing fast that it will guarantee the country’s energy security and also lend Belgrade crucial influence in the Western Balkan region when it comes to controlling gas supplies.

The 900-kilometre offshore section of South Stream is planned to start from the Beregovaya compressor station at Dzhubga on Russia’s Black Sea coast and then run to the Bulgarian port of Varna, from where it will continue into land-locked Europe. It is due for completion in 2015.

On May 15th, the gas companies of the countries involved in the project, Russia, Italy, Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece, signed an agreement concerning the construction of the pipeline.

The Serbian branch of the pipeline is due to be 450 kilometres in length and will have a capacity of 4.4 billion cubic metres a year. Most observers agree that the project offers huge opportunities for Serbia, whose prime transit location is much remarked upon, but rarely exploited to the full. However, many are also very aware that behind the optimism exist a number of potential pitfalls too.

~ more... ~