The South Stream project confirmed
its intention to construct a 59-kilometer gas pipeline branch to bring gas to
consumers in
Bulgaria
,
Turkey
,
Greece
and
FYROM
, reads anote released on Wednesday.
‘Despite the numerous opponents of South Stream and the opinions of
European skeptics doubting the success of the project aimed at constructing a
new gas trunkline from Russia to Southern and Central Europe, it is progressing
at a fast pace,’ reads the Gazprom Magazine.
The project confirmed the timeline, with the gas pipeline commissioning
scheduled for December 2015. The full design capacity of 63 billion cubic
meters a year is expected in 2018.
At the moment, the attention is focused on selecting suppliers and
construction contractors.
“Taking into account the project’s
complexity and scale, only the companies which have already proved themselves
in other major international projects and which have a vast experience are
chosen for the South Stream project. For instance, following the bidding
results, Dutch Intecsea was chosen as the general designer of the offshore gas
pipeline section... German Europipe, Japanese Nippon Steel and Sumitomo,
Russian Severstal, Vyksa Metallurgical Plant, Chelyabinsk Pipe-Rolling Plant,
Izhora Pipe Mill and others are competing for the right to supply the gas
pipes,” said Leonid Chugunov, Head of the Project Management Department of
Gazprom.