CEO of Austrian OMV Not Worried of South Stream's Cancellation

Gerhard Roiss, CEO of Austrian oil and gas company OMV said that Russia's announced cancellation of the South Stream pipeline was not to have major consequences.

Roiss said in an interview for Austrian radio O1 on Tuesday that investments in the Black Sea were more important for his company, pointing to the USD 1 billion that OMV plans on investing with Exxon Mobil in a Romanian project, which could produce its first gas by 2020.

The extension of South Stream to Austria, which had been agreed earlier this year, would have cost OMV around EUR 100 million over three years.

OMV signed an agreement with Russian Gazprom in June to extend the pipeline from Southeastern Europe to Austria.

The CEO said that OMV has not been in contact with Gazprom regarding the cancellation announced on Monday, so he did not hurry to declare the project over.

Roiss said that OMV would have been involved in the construction of only a small section of the pipeline.

The suspension of South Stream will deal a further blow to the gas industry of the Austrian company.

OMV was involved in the alternative EU-backed Nabucco pipeline, which planned on supplying gas from Azerbaijan to Austria, but the project has been brought to a halt.

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