Gazprom, Eni Consider Bringing in Third Partner in Undersea Section of South Stream Gas Pipeline

Gazprom and Eni are strategic partners in the project designed to carry Russian natural gas to Europe under the Black Sea. The two sides hold stakes of 50% each in the consortium that will build the 900-kilometre section of the pipeline on the sea bed.

The possibility for bringing in a third partner in the construction of the offshore section of the pipeline was discussed at a meeting between Gazprom's chief executive Alexei Miller and Eni's CEO Paolo Scaroni held in Moscow on Tuesday, Gazprom said in a statement.

The South Stream gas pipeline, estimated to cost some 10 billion euro ($14.7 billion), will carry some 63 billion cubic metres of Russian gas yearly to Western Europe. The undersea section will begin in Russia and would come ashore at the Bulgarian Black Sea of port of Burgas. The onshore section will stretch from Bulgaria via Greece to Italy in the south and will branch out to Austria in the north.

The route challenges a key EU-backed gas supply project seen as an alternative to Russian supplies, Nabucco. Russia satisfies a quarter of the European Union's energy needs and opponents of South Stream say the pipeline would make the bloc even more dependent on Russian gas supplies.