Russia’s Stroytransgaz has asked to withdraw from the construction of the
Bulgarian section of the South Stream gas pipeline, Russian media reported on
Monday quoting the company’s majority shareholder, Gennady
Timchenko.
“From the viewpoint of business, the loss of the South Stream
is an unpleasant thing for us,” Timchenko told Russian state news agency Itar
Tass in an interview.
The South Stream gas pipeline, spearheaded by
Russia’s Gazprom, will carry gas from Russia to central and southern Europe via
Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia. Commercial operation is scheduled to
start by the end of 2015, reaching its full capacity of some 63 billion cubic
metres per year by 2017. The project's future, however, is uncertain as the
European Commission has said it runs counter to EU law.
In June the
Bulgarian government said it halted the construction of the South Stream
pipeline on its territory until it is made compliant with EU law.
“We
hoped to make our strong contribution to the common cause, but you see [U.S.
Senator] Mr. [John] McCain came to Bulgaria and talked the national government
into renouncing our services,” Timchenko added.
In late May, South Stream
Bulgaria, a 50/50 joint venture of Russia's Gazprom and the state-run Bulgarian
Energy Holding, said it has picked a consortium made up of Russia's
Stroytransgaz and Bulgaria's Gazproekt Yug to build the Bulgarian section of the
South Stream gas pipeline.
The total value of the Gazprom-spearheaded
project is estimated at some 16 billion euro ($21.5 billion).