Hungary
could
start construction on its stretch of the South Stream gas pipeline within six
months and complete the project by 2017, the chief executive of the main
Hungarian participant in the project told the daily Napi Gazdasag on Monday.
"We could put shovel to dirt as soon as six
months from now but we would like to complete the Hungarian stretch by
2017," MVM CEO Csaba Baji said.
MVM owns 50 percent of the Hungarian stretch of
the South Stream project, which is designed to ship Russian gas to Europe
bypassing Ukraine.
Hungary wants to speed up the project, but faces
tough resistance from some European Union member states.
Hungary has supported the pipeline as well as
other Russian energy projects, including a gas storage deal and the
construction of two big reactors at the Paks nuclear plant in central Hungary.
Baji said the storage deal of up to 700 million
cubic metres of gas in Hungary's big storage facilities was a sign of "new
high-level cooperation" between Hungary and Russia.