South Stream may start being built in Nov 2010

South Stream may start being built in Nov 2010 - deputy PM

     Construction of South Stream, a planned

pipeline  to  carry  natural  gas from Russia to Bulgaria or Romania and

further  to  Italy  and  Austria  through Greece, Serbia and Hungary, is

likely to  start  in  November  2010,  a senior Russian minister said on

Thursday.

     "This  date is close to the start of construction. If everything is

ready and  all  permissions  have been obtained, why put it off?" Deputy

Prime Minister Igor Sechin told reporters in Ankara.

     The  government  press  service  said  that,  under  a  protocol on

cooperation  in  the  gas  industry  signed  in  Ankara,  permission for

research  to  precede the laying of the pipeline section that would pass

through  the  Turkish  part of the Black Sea floor is due to be obtained

from Turkey  before  November  1,  2002, and permission for building the

section before November 1, 2010.

     The objective of the South Stream project is to lay a pipeline that

would bypass Ukraine, believed to be an unstable gas transit stage.

     The  pipeline would have a discharge of 63 billion cubic meters per

year.

     It  is  expected to cost about 8.6billion euros to lay its offshore

section and offshoots to run to various European countries.