Gazprom Denies Courting German RWE for South Stream

Handelsblatt commented that should RWE decide to abandon Nabucco and join the South Stream project, this could spell the end of Nabucco. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Russia's Gazprom has denied reports that it has invited German utility RWE to join its South Stream gas pipeline project, it emerged over the weekend.

"This is a misunderstanding. We have not invited RWE in this project as we don’t need to do this," Gazprom's export chief Alexander Medvedev told reporters.

He stressed that the project is open for other shareholders.

“We are ready to discuss this with our Italian and French partners, but we do not have such a need,” he said during talks with representatives of the Bulgarian government over the South Stream project.

German daily Handelsblatt reported last week that Gazprom Vice President Alexander Medvedev has approached Leonhard Birnbaum, responsible for strategy and mergers and acquisitions at RWE, with an invitation to join the project.

The German utility later confirmed it was considering the offer.

South Stream is a joint venture of Russia's Gazprom and Italy's Eni. It will exit Russia under the Black Sea and enter the European Union via Bulgaria to carry 63 billion cubic meters of gas a year.

The gas line is scheduled to be completed by 2015. With it Russia aims at eliminating dependence from transit countries.

Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and Croatia are also signed onto the deal.

Nabucco pipeline aims to provide a supply of gas not subject to Russian control. Current partners in Nabucco are Bulgarian Energy holding, Turkey's Botas, Hungary's MOL, Austria's OMV, Romania's Transgaz and Germany's RWE, each holding 16.67%.

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