Gazprom and Italian oil firm Eni have agreed to build a massive pipeline to take Russian gas under the Black Sea to Europe. In the 50-50 joint venture, ‘South Stream’ stretch of pipeline is 900km, which will pass through Bulgaria and then branch to Austria and Slovenia in one spur and southern Italy in another. With this project, Russia will avoid the problem of oil stealing and threat of block supplies to Europe as two transit countries Ukraine and Belarus did in the early months of the year. The South Stream will carry about 30 billion cubic meters, or one trillion cubic feet, of natural gas a year. To make South Stream more secure and safe, delegations from the joint venture are pursuing the Bulgarian government. The total cost of the project isn’t disclosed yet, as they said that it will be decided after a feasibility study of the entire project will be completed by the Italian oil services company Saipem. The construction might begin next year. The projects will empower Russia to supply uninterrupted oil supplies to EU. Russia based Gazprom alone provides about a quarter of European natural gas needs. The company’s profitability depends on exports since state-set gas prices in Russia are about a fifth of those in Europe. For Eni, the pipeline would secure supplies for the third-largest natural gas market in Europe, behind Britain and Germany. Italy buys 86 percent of its natural gas from abroad, mainly from Algeria and Russia. Eni’s CEO Paolo Scaroni said:Building South Stream is the most audacious plan in the history of gas pipelines and in our sector it aims to meet the gap between Europe’s gas supply and demand Russia recently forced western oil drillers out from the country, in the wake of empowering state owned oil driller Gazprom. To be the market leader in the world, Russia is planning to increase its influence in southeastern Europe by buying state assets, supplying fuel through new pipelines and linking power grids. Russian government has also invited Balkan countries to join South Stream project, which will make it more viable. Via: gulf-times