Nabucco kann nicht scheitern sagt EU-Kommissar[en] 

Recently, Russia signed agreements with Italy, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia to build the 'South Stream' gas pipeline, a rival to the EU-favoured Nabucco project. It also announced that South Stream would more than double its planned capacity from 31 billion cubic metres per year (bcm/y) to 63bcm (EurActiv 18/05/09). 

Until now, Nabucco and South Stream's capacities were considered to be of identical capacity (30 billion cubic metres a year). Both bypass Ukraine and use approximately the same resources (Central Asian and Caspian gas). 

South Stream's planned route runs directly to Italy from the Black Sea's Northern Caucasus shore, while Nabucco runs to Southern Europe via Turkey from the Black Sea's Southern Caucasus borders. Their commissioning terms are nearly identical. 

Nord Stream is a planned natural gas pipeline travelling 1,220 kilometres between Vyborg, Russia and Greifswald, Germany under the Baltic Sea. Nord Stream is designed to transport up to 55 billion cubic metres of gas per year, enough to supply more than 25 million households. Construction is due to start in April 2010 (EurActiv 14/05/09). 

The shareholders in Nord Stream are Gazprom, BASF/Wintershall Holding AG, E.ON Ruhrgas AG and N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie. Gazprom leads the consortium with a 51% stake. France's GDF Suez is also reportedly joining (EurActiv 30/07/09). 

The project is considered controversial in several countries, including Sweden, Poland and the Baltic states. In March this year, Nord Stream submitted the 'Espoo Report', a detailed description of potential primarily transboundary impacts along the whole route. It was sent to Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany, as the pipeline is due to cross these countries' economic zones or territorial waters. Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were sent copies as affected parties. 

The Nord Stream consortium responsible for the project is currently conducting public meetings in all nine countries affected by the pipeline. 

'South Stream' controversy 

Speaking to the Parliament's industry, research and energy committee, Piebalgs said Turkey's recent decision to accept South Stream passing through its territorial waters would not hamper Nabucco (EurActiv 21/08/09). 

"We have taken note [of the Russian-Turkish agreement], but we trust Turkey for Nabucco," said Piebalgs, who is Latvia's candidate commissioner in the next EU executive. 

Turkey recently lifted the main obstacles to its role in the Nabucco gas pipeline and hosted a landmark signing ceremony for the project, which is expected to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas (EurActiv 14/07/09). 

Piebalgs was also asked about Bulgaria's new government, which reportedly questioned the country's role in South Stream. Piebalgs said the Commission was not involved in any decision-making on South Stream, although he had personally invited countries participating to the project to make a presentation in Brussels, without success. 

The energy commissioner said that it was "up to Bulgaria to decide" its role in the project, adding that in future, he would like such projects to be discussed in an EU framework beforehand. But he added that under the present treaties, Italy - the main EU actor in 'South Stream' - and Bulgaria had the sovereign right to decide by themselves. 

Bulgaria's new Prime Minister Boyko Borissov met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin yesterday, at the commemoration in  Gdańsk (Poland) of the 70th anniversary of the beginning of World War II. 

According to the daily Dnevnik, EurActiv's media partner in Bulgaria, Borissov told Putin that his government was still investigating how much money it can dedicate to infrastructure projects, as the previous cabinet had depleted the country's budget. Borissov reportedly told Putin that a decision would be taken in the next three months. 

Nord Steam doubts 

During the meeting, Polish MEPs also challenged Piebalgs over 'Nord Stream', another Gazprom-sponsored pipeline, which is designed to bring Russian gas under the Baltic Sea directly to Germany, bypassing Ukraine. 

Piebalgs made it plain that the EU considered Nord Stream to be a project of European interest, indirectly rebuking a recent outburst by Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, who said the project was not a priority for the Union (EurActiv 27/08/09). 

"Nord Stream will strengthen our security of supply. It will not weaken it," Piebalgs said. 

Regarding environmental concerns surrounding the project, an issue raised by a number of MEPs, he said thorough scrutiny was underway and that the appropriate bodies would give the answers. He insisted that the consultation process concerning the pipeline's environmental impact was "not a political issue" and that Nord Stream did not run counter to the Baltic Sea strategy's environmental ambitions (see EurActiv 11/06/09). 

Piebalgs expressed cautious optimism as to recurring payment conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, which led last January to a major gas crisis in many EU countries. 

'We will survive' 

"Are supplies guaranteed for the winter? Yes, we will survive," said Piebalgs. He said the EU was better prepared now to face potential crises, because the Gas Coordination Group was working effectively. He also explained that the EU was trying to improve Russia-Ukraine relations, which he said suffered during the transit fees controversy. 

"If transit fees are not interesting for Ukraine, we have a problem," Piebalgs said. But he added that negotiations were moving in the right direction and that prices were being adjusted to the market. 

Regarding relations between member countries and the Commission on energy issues, Piebalgs said European capitals wanted the Commission to be highly visible during crisis time. 

"If you are successful, we will thank you. If you are not successful, we will shoot you," he said amid laughter. 

Speaking to EurActiv, Sebastian Sass, head of Nord Stream's representation to the EU, said the consortium responsible for the project had conducted public hearings in all nine countries affected by the project. 

"From the ecological point of view, it is important to understand that Nord Steam is based on the largest environmental consultations and also on the most comprehensive environmental study that have ever been conducted in the Baltic Sea region. Now we have conducted public hearings and presented the results of the study, which to our understanding demonstrate that the project can realised without any inappropriate environmental impact," Sass said. 

He added that the consortium was planning the project without heavy seabed interventions and without dredging or cutting on the seabed. Even the ships engaged in its construction were not anchoring, which in his view further minimises its environmental impact.