Brussels, 05/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 4 November, the Italian energy company, ENI, did not rule out the possibility of abandoning the South Stream gas pipeline project if the need for further investment increased.
Claudio Descalzi, the CEO of the Italian oil and gas company, said that, “ENI will continue to engage in South Stream if required investment does not exceed 600 million euros, otherwise it will consider leaving the project”. He added that, “the four participants in the project are having difficulty finding funding” and that “ENI would never be able to put up 2.4 billion euros, as this would be too risky for its financial balance”.
Headed by the Russian gas group, Gazprom (50%), with ENI owning a 20% share, the French company EDF, 15% and Wintershall from Germany, 15%, South Stream will connect Russia to Bulgaria and the Black Sea, by circumventing Ukraine to supply the EU market via two branches: one in the south, towards Italy by way of Greece, the other, in the north, towards Austria, Croatia and Slovenia by way of Serbia and Hungary.
In the middle of October, Gazprom re-evaluated upwards the costs of the undersea and onshore sections of South Stream in Europe to €14 billion and €9.5 billion instead of the initially forecast respective €10 and €6 billion. (EH)