Gazprom, Croatia Sign Deal To Construct South Stream Branch

Dow Jones reports that Russian natural gas producer OAO Gazprom said Thursday it had signed a deal with Croatia's state-owned pipeline operator Plinacro to build a branch to the country from the planned South Stream pipeline.

Gazprom and Plinacro will jointly construct the branch, which will be completed by the end of 2016, the Russian state-controlled firm said in a statement. Construction of South Stream--which will carry up to 63 billion cubic meters from Russia to south-eastern Europe via the Black Sea--began last December.

Gazprom gave no figure for the cost of the Croatia branch. Interfax news agency cited Mladen Antunovic, the head of Plinacro, as saying the pipeline would cost 60 million euros ($80 million) with a planned capacity of 2.7 billion cubic meters per year.

Gazprom said the companies also discussed renewing Russian gas deliveries to Croatia and the potential construction of power-generating plants in the country.

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