South Stream pipeline to be built on Ukraine’s territory

On the day the South Stream agreement is signed, Russia’s neighbour Ukraine, the biggest transit country for Russian hydrocarbons, has spoken out, with President Viktor Yanukovich saying his country wanted to see the South Stream pipeline built on its territory. Kiev believes this would make the project “five times less expensive.”

The deputy head of Gazprom’s board, Valery Golubev, has already labeled the idea as inefficient, saying there is no sense in using Ukrainian territory if the project could be realized in a more direct way.

“They have been proposing the idea for quite some time,” commented Golubev, saying he sees the idea as impractical.

It should be noted that an alternative proposal came from the Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovich, at the eighth annual Ukraine and the World: Common Challenges, Common Future meeting in Yalta. He suggested cutting the cost of the South Stream pipeline project by running it through Ukraine rather than under the Black Sea.

“South Stream should run on land in the south of Ukraine. That project is less expensive than the 25 billion euro South Stream project considered now. Ours would be five times cheaper,” Yanukovich declared.