Key South Stream Shareholder Doubts Its Future

The future of the South Stream pipeline is unclear and probably it will not be realized soon, said the head of the Italian company Eni, Paolo Scaroni. 

Eni is one of the key shareholders in the project and holds 20% of its shares. Eni is the largest Italian gas company and the main distributor of gas from Russia's Gazprom in Italy.  

“I see a very unclear future, because the Russian problem might hinder the necessary EU permits,” Scaroni said in Italian parliament. “I don't know if South Stream will ever be built.” 

Last week the EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger said that the high level talks on the future of the pipeline on EU territory are frozen, because of the Russian aggression in Crimea. 

Gazprom, however, said that the project is going ahead and it will be completed in 2018.