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White Stream, is currently being considered, bringing gas through Romania and Bulgaria
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Monday scrapped the South Stream pipeline project to supply gas to southern Europe, accusing the European Commission of a ''counterproductive'' attitude after the project was suspended following sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine.
The Commission said on Tuesday that it was ''never against South Stream'', according to the spokesman of Vice President Maros Sefcovic, but that EU consumer protection regulations would have to be complied through competition while ensuring diversification of supply sources.
South Stream is a 16-billion-euro project that Italy has a prime role in - through Gazprom's top partner, ENI - alongside France's EDF and Germany's Wintershall, but the plan to arrive in Europe without crossing through Ukraine is now unlikely to come into being, as was the case with Nabucco, which for years was the South Stream's major competitor and had been backed by the EU.
Some of the other gas pipelines bringing Russian, Azeri or North African gas to Europe include the following. -SOUTHERN CORRIDOR: TAP, TANAP, WHITE STREAM. This is the EU's preferred route to free itself of Moscow to get Caspian gas from Azeri Shah Deniz reserves. The corridor was opened last year with the assigning of gas to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which will bring Azeri gas to Europe through Greece, Albania and Italy via Turkey and its TANAP pipeline. This will supply gas to TAP (still being built), which won out over rivals Nabucco West and ITGI. Another gas pipeline, White Stream, is currently being considered, which would bring Azeri gas through Romania and Bulgaria via Georgia and the Black Sea. -MEDITERRANEAN AND NORTH SEA. Gas is brought to Italy and the EU from North Africa using Green Stream (from Libya) and the Trans Med (from Algeria via Tunisia to Sicily). The GALSI project, which would bring Algeria gas directly to Sardinia, is currently stalled. There are also numerous gas pipelines (such as Europipe, Zeepipe, Franpipe)crossing the North Sea and Norway. -LIQUIDI GAS AND LNG TERMINALS. Use is increasing, but many are underused, such as those in Spain. In Italy, the Panigaglia, Rovigo and Livorno terminals are operative. (ANSAmed).