Energy in Italy

Vasil Shtonov, caretaker Energy Minister, has informed that the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR) may be moved from the government to Parliament.

Shtonov made clear at a Friday press conference that the proposal was still being discussed and it could only be implemented by an ordinary government.

The first batch of pipes for the Bulgarian section of the South Stream gas pipeline has been delivered by German company Eurotype to the Port of Varna.

A total of four parallel lines are to be put on the Black Sea seabed, each of which requires over 75 000 pipes. The sea section of the pipeline spans 931 km.

The confrontation between the Russia and the West over Ukraine will not cancel the planned construction of the South Stream gas pipeline, according to OMV CEO Gerhard Roiss.

Roiss, as cited by RIA Novosti, commented that the gas pipeline project was a 50-year project and a delay of a few months was not an issue.

Radan Kanev of the Reformist Bloc will contest the construction permit for the South Stream pipeline compressor station in the Pasha Dere area near Varna, reports Dnevnik.bg. 

BELGRADE - Srbijagas director Dusan Bajatovic says that the first 30 kilometers of the South Stream pipeline section through Serbia will be laid by the end of 2014, and the route will change in Vojvodina, as it will not go to Italy but to Baumgarten in Austria.

Ekaterina Zaharieva, caretaker Deputy Prime Minister, has vowed to make as much information as possible on the South Stream gas pipeline project publicly available.

In a Thursday interview for private TV station bTV, Zaharieva argued that at least the basic terms of contracts of this type had to be made public.

Serbia to build first 30km of South Stream by end of year

BELGRADE -- By the end of 2014 the first 30 kilometers of the South Stream gas pipeline will be built in Serbia, Dušan Bajatović has announced.

The head of the country's public natural gas enterprise, Srbijagas, also said the pipeline route would be changed in the northern province of Vojvodina.

Nikolić and Tsentrgaz director discuss South Stream

BELGRADE -- President Tomislav Nikolić conferred in Belgrade on with Stanislav Anikeev, director of Tsentrgaz, the company that will build South Stream in Serbia.

The talks covered the importance of the natural gas pipeline project for the country, reported Tanjug.

Bulgaria's Ministry of Agriculture has confirmed that 359 da of woodland were sold to South Stream Bulgaria in July.

The ministry's press office made the announcement after the investigative website Bivol.bg published a report on the deal.

The offshore South Stream gas pipeline section will not have a substantial impact on the environment and the socio-economic sphere in the region of Bulgaria's Varna.

The Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) report was prepared by international experts from URS Infrastructure and Environment UK Limited.