Moscow - Modernizing Ukraine's gas transportation system would cost an estimated $19.5 billion at a minimum and would do nothing to reduce risks to transit of Russian gas to Europe, according to an article in the Financial Times authored by Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov.
South Stream, which has “the commercial backing of leading European companies and the support of participating countries,” will solve this problem at a lower cost, Kupriyanov said.
The European Commission is trying to delay the project out of strictly political considerations, Kupriyanov said in the FT, adding that “the EU seems ready to shoot itself in the foot by blocking a project that will increase its energy security and help Europe satisfy increasing energy import needs.”
South Stream with capacity to ship 63 billion cubic meters of gas a year will cost 15.5 billion euro to build. The pipeline will be laid under the Black Sea from Anapa in Russia to Varna in Bulgaria, and onward to Austria’s Baumgarten gas hub.
