Hungary has signed an agreement to launch the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline on its territory in 2015. The deal was signed with an engineering consortium on planning and approval works, South Stream Hungary Ltd. told local newswire MTI.
South Stream Hungary is owned by the Hungarian Electricity Works (MVM) and Russian Gazprom, 50-50%. The consortium it contracted with comprises several Hungarian and foreign companies.
The track where the pipeline will pass remains to be outlined in the first quarter of 2014.
Last week, the European Commission warned countries through which the pipeline will pass, to renegotiate their agreements with Russia on the South Stream project, in order to comply them with EU laws.
“Hungary’s government will do everything in its power to remove obstacles in the way of implementing the South Stream gas pipeline and to see the formulation of a solution that is acceptable to all parties", the National Development Ministry said on Monday.
The construction of South Stream is already under way in Russia, Bulgaria, and Serbia.
Gazprom Chairman Alexey Miller met Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán this Wednesday, where they confirmed that the construction works of the South Stream pipeline on Hungarian territory will commence in April 2015. Miller said the construction of the pipeline was on track, with works already started in Russia, Bulgaria and Serbia.
Bertalan Havasi, head of the Prime Minister’s press office, stressed that no agreement was signed at the meeting.
EU member states currently involved in the project are in an awkward position since they are simultaneously interested in having this pipeline up and running, and under pressure by the European Commission that had threatened them to fact infringement proceedings if they continue with the investment in line with the current (bilateral) contracts.
Considering that Gazprom and MVM had decided last year to kick off this project, the deal with the engineering consortium is no surprise in itself.
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