The Slovenia Times

Gazprom Seeking Bigger Capacity for Slovenian South Stream Section

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The Slovenian branch of South Stream, 266 km in length, was initially projected to carry eight billion cubic metres of gas per year. Gazprom now wants to raise the capacity to over 30 billion, said Marjan Eberlinc, the boss of pipeline operator Plinovodi.

Plinovodi is the Slovenian partner in the joint venture with Gazprom, Južni tok Slovenija, which is slated to build the Slovenian section of the pipeline, from the border with Hungary to the border with Italy.

In the first phase existing pipelines in Slovenia can be used, but to raise the capacity new pipes will have to be laid down, in particular on the section between Vodice, near Ljubljana, and Rateče on the border with Italy.

The change of capacity will also affect planning permits, according to Eberlinc, who said the procedures were taking "unbelievably long". The technical details would also have to change accordingly.

The investment in the Slovenian section was initially estimated at EUR 1.1bn; the latest estimate, in a feasibility study, is EUR 1bn with a projected 25% deviation.

Južni tok needs to secure 70% of the funding and both partners in the joint venture 15% each.

Eberlinc said the financing parameters were outlined, but the actual financing plan will be finalised in the next phase of the project.

Alexander Siromyatin, deputy head of projects at Gazprom, noted that the sections in Serbia and Bulgaria had been designated as priority projects of special importance.

"I hope we get a similar status in Slovenia," he told reporters.

Arguably the biggest unknown surrounding the whole project is Gazprom's bid to have South Stream exempted from EU regulations requiring splitting companies' production and retail operations from their transmission networks.

Dialogue between Gazprom and the European Commission has started. This is not up to Plinovodi, Eberlinc said.

Siromyatin would not comment on the talks, saying only that Gazprom was awaiting a response to their latest offer.

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