Électricité de France

Aleksandar Vucic, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister, said that Serbia was preserving vital national interests with regard to the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline in cooperation with Russia.

"Serbia will protect its interests, but we are not the major player and we do not get to decide on the most important issues," Vucic said on Wednesday.

South Stream Transport signed a contract with Saipem for the construction of the first line of the South Stream Offshore Pipeline and the micro-tunnels for the 4 pipeline strings.

The contracts for the supply of the pipes have already been signed for the first two lines, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), citing a media statement of the company.

Germany's concern Siemens is to provide the electrical systems and control and measurement apparatus for the offshore section of the South Stream.

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.  

By Chryssa Liaggou

Five embassies in Athens have already asked for the translation of a draft law on the break-up of Public Power Corporation, indicating an interest on behalf of investors in the so-called “Small PPC,” which is meant to rival Greece’s electricity giant once it is split into two.

Experts from Russian state-owned Gazprom are to visit Macedonia's capital Skopje for talks over the construction of a South Stream gas pipeline section.

Tasks regarding the South Stream are under way at a technical level, Bulgaria's Economy Minister Dragomir Stoynev has said.

He asserted that the gas pipeline project has not come to a halt despite "political" factors that might lead to delays, Stoynev explained in an interview for the Bulgarian National Television.

BELGRADE - There are no misunderstandings between the Serbian and Russian partners regarding the South Stream gas pipeline project nor is the project being held back by problems in funding and provision of guarantees for loans, Dusan Bajatovic, director general of state-owned natural gas provider Srbijagas, said Thursday.

BELGRADE - The problem with issuing government guarantees needed for the construction of the South Stream pipeline leg through Serbia has emerged because the reforms in Srbijagas, a government owned company, are behind schedule, the Ministry of Energy has said.

KOPAONIK - Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said Tuesday that the project to build a section of the South Stream gas pipeline in Serbia is being held back by the problem of provision of state guarantees and called for the issue to be resolved as soon as possible.