Brussels, 23/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - In Vienna on Tuesday 24 June, the Austrian petroleum company OMV and the Russian gas company Gazprom are to sign a participation agreement for the consortium tasked with building the Austrian section of the South Stream gas pipeline. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will attend.
On a visit to Ljubljana on 20 June, Austrain Chancellor Werner Faymann who is to host the Russian head of state on Tuesday, assured Slovenian Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek of his support to the project steered by Gazprom. South Stream “is a good possible way of securing sustainable energy supply in the medium term”, said Faymann. Bratusek referred to it as a “vital infrastructure project”.
However, against the backdrop of the Ukrainian crisis in the gas dispute between Moscow and Kiev, South Stream is the subject of a stand-off between the Commission and the Russian government, the European executive taking the view that the project, in which Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia plus Serbia are involved, does not comply with European legislation on the single market or competition.
Earlier this month, the Commission opened infringement proceedings against Bulgaria over its procedure to award the public procurement contracts in the framework of the construction work for the section of South Stream on Bulgarian territory. The Commission called for the work to be suspended immediately. Other infringement procedures against other countries taking part in South Stream could follow, the Commission threatened several times in June. The European executive has also ordered Serbia to down tools.
South Stream, which is steered by Gazprom, with the involvement of the Italian energy company ENI and EDF of France, aims to connect Russia to Bulgaria under the Black Sea, bypassing Ukraine, to supply the European market by two branches: the first, to the south, to Italy via Greece; the second, to the north, to Austria, Croatia and Slovenia, via Serbia and Hungary. (EH)