Gazprom CEO says EU blocked S Stream to keep transit via Ukraine

BERLIN, Apr 13 (PRIME) -- The main reason for the E.U. blockade of the South Stream project was to keep the transit gas flow through Ukraine, Russian gas giant Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said at a conference Monday.

“The fact that they’ve prevented South Stream implementation quoting Gazprom’s unwillingness to work under the third energy package and comply with E.U. regulations is not true. The goal was to keep the status quo, the transit through Ukraine. There was no other goal for the blockade,” Miller said.

“If they think that by blocking the Turkish Stream they will achieve the same goal … this is a mistake,” he said, adding that the gas that Russia is now ready to send to the E.U. may be easily switched to another markets.

The Ukrainian transportation system is the weakest link in gas relations between Russia and the E.U., he said.

The Turkish Stream pipeline, which Russia will construct instead of the cancelled South Stream project, will be implemented not on the interpenetration principle, but on the principle of diversifying supply routes, which does not decrease transit risks, Miller said.

Construction of capacities for receiving gas through Turkish Stream on the E.U. territory should have been already launched, but this is not happening. “The terms are very tough, the capacities must appear by the end of 2019,” and if they are not created by that time, “it will be not our fault,” Miller said.

If Gazprom receives any suggestions to partake in construction of gas pipelines in the E.U. countries and it will be connected to the gas transit hub on the border with Turkey, the company will accept them, he added.

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