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Russia rejects to merge Nabucco and South Stream

15 March 2010 12:20 (UTC +04:00)

BakÄ± - APA-Economics. Russia isnâ€™t considering merging its South Stream gas pipeline to Europe with the rival European Union-backed Nabucco link, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said.

It seems to me that the South stream project is highly competitive; weâ€™ve got both agreements and gas. And weâ€™re waiting for time, when the Nabucco project will be able to compete with us, said Shmatko.

OAO Gazprom, Russiaâ€™s gas export monopoly, and Eni are equal partners in a venture to build South Stream under the Black Sea, shipping as much as 63 billion cubic meters of the fuel annually from Russia and central Asia to Europe. Rival Nabucco would deliver 31 billion cubic meters annually from eastern Turkey to Austria, bypassing Russia.