With an official ceremony in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the construction of the South Stream pipeline has been launched near the South Russian town of Anapa.

First, as Aleksey Miller, CEO of Gazprom has announced previously, the world’s largest and state-of-the-art compression station will be built on the shore of the Black Sea, after which they will start laying a 900-kilometre-long pipeline under the sea.

At the event, President Putin emphasised that the project has truly become an international investment, referring to Moscow's aim of having the South Stream acknowledged as a transnational project in order to evade the European Union’s third energy package, which is also supported by the operator, South Stream Transport B.V.’s management and Aleksey Miller.
Hungary was represented by Minister of National Development Zsuzsa Németh, Minister of State for Climate Change and Energy Pál Kovács and CEO of MVM Hungarian Electricity Ltd. Csaba Baji. Minister Németh said that there are on-going talks with Gazprom and South Stream Transport B.V., and the parties will respect the deadlines.

The South Stream pipeline will transport natural gas from Anapa, through the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary, finally reaching Slovenia and Italy. In October, Gazprom and MVM Hungarian Electricity Ltd. signed an agreement to form a joint-venture, South Stream Hungary that is to build the 229-kilometre Hungarian section of the pipeline.

(Prime Minister’s Office)