Wintershall entrance to South Stream provides the project with support in the EU

Wintershall's entrance to South Stream provides the project with support in the EU, ENI chief P. Scaroni says in the  interview to Wall Street Journal. ‘It gives stability to the project not only from the point of view of a potential gas purchaser but from attitude to the project in the EU as well’, he says. Currently the shareholders of the company for construction of the off-land part of South Stream are Gazprom and ENI on a parity basis. Despite from Wintershall, negotiations upon the issue are held as well with EDF. The EU demands from gas pipelines’ owners to guarantee access to them for other suppliers and prohibits suppliers to own transport infrastructure, for the European markets liberalization. Mr. Scaroni says that South Stream can operate only if it avoids these limitations. Wintershall is a participant of North Stream, another project for Russian gas supply to Europe.

Translated by Nadezhda Poltoratskaya

Source: http://www.oilcapital.ru/news/2011/03/211055_165258.shtml