EurActiv: Pipes for South Stream Keep Arriving in Bulgaria

It is unclear why pipes for the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline keep arriving in Bulgaria, the website EurActiv writes.

The Brussels-based outlet cites a report from Dnevnik.bg, a Bulgarian news website, about a vessel carrying a Bahamas flag which was stuck in shallow water at the Bulgarian port of Burgas.

The ship seems to have transported pipes for the South Stream project, which was abandoned in December 2014 after an announcement from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

South Stream was designed to carry 63 billion cubic meters of gas a year to Central Europe via Bulgaria and Serbia.

Early in December Putin cited Bulgaria's reluctance to go on with the pipeline and issue the necessary permits as a reason to put an end to the project.

Bulgaria, however, is now seeking to put forward an "altered" version including the construction of a gas hub where the pipe was meant to land on Bulgarian soil, an idea which has so far been neither approved nor rejected by Moscow.

Dnevnik, for its part, claims this is the third arrival of the same ship in Bulgaria, and also the third time it comes loaded with pipes.

In mid-December, Russian business daily Vedomosti reported pipes were still being delivered despite the project's demise. A few days later, South Stream Transport, the joint venture which was to be in charge of offshore construction, officially announced transportation of pipes had come to a halt.

Some pipes which were set aside for South Stream's construction still seem to be piled up in the Black Sea cities of Burgas and Varna and have not yet been taken away even though the project was termined.

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