Russia Confirms Readiness to Build South Stream in Case of Guaranteed EU Demand for Gas

Russia is ready to build the South Stream gas pipeline if the EU provides guarantees about demand, the country's Energy Minister Alexander Novak has said.

"If Bulgaria and the European Commission officially confirm their interest and guarantee the relevance of the pipeline’s construction and creation of such capital-intensive infrastructure we’ll be able to ensure the construction and supplies of gas required," TASS quoted Novak as saying in an interview broadcast by the Russia-24 TV news channel on Tuesday.

Novak said earlier on Tuesday that Russia was ready to ensure additional gas supplies to southeastern Europe, including in case of consumers' interest in the stalled Turkish Stream gas pipeline project.

Russia said in december 2014 that it abandoned the South Stream project designed to carry Russian gas under the Black Sea to EU member Bulgaria due to competition objections from the European Commission and announced it would replace South Stream by an alternative route via Turkey.

The new project, called Turkish Stream, has been stalled since December 2015 over the downing of a Russian warplane by the Turkish Air Force near Turkey’s border with Syria.

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