Slovenia's Plinovodi,Gazprom'spartnerfor the South Stream, will be officially
informed about the fate of the projectin ealy 2015 and the two sides will
continue talks then, Plinovodi CEO told local media after a visit to
Moscow.
"We exchanged opinions on how to proceed and we will meet again
at the beginning of next year," MarjanEberlinc said as quoted by daily Delo,
adding thatGazprom will senda written opinion.
The Russian side said
that a car does not come to a complete stop when you pull over, it takes some
time,Eberlinc added. Much will also dependon international relations. The CEO
seems not to have lost hopealthough Gazprom confirmed on Tuesday its decision
to abandon the project.
The Russian side recognized the Slovenian team as
the best partner in the project as it complied with all its contractual
obligations and invested some 150,000 euro ($ 186.000)in the project, Eberlinc
noted.
Plinovodi will continueto workon the project, until itgets
different official information, Eberlinc told reporters on December 3
afterRussia's unexpectedwithdrawal from South Stream.
Slovenia and
Russia signed an agreement on cooperation in the construction and operation of
the pipeline on Slovenian territory in 2009.The South Sream project was approved
by parliament in 2012 and the country made also investment
commitments.
The Slovenian section of the South Stream was planned to be
266 kilometres long and was estimated to cost 1 billion euro.