Gazprom said that it consistently honours contacts and agreements between companies and governments, while adding that its final choice will depend on activities for a timely and successful execution of the project.

The company argued that the memorandum on the intent to carry out the project in Austria does not mean a new decision with respect to the land sections of the South Stream.

It pointed out that a joint South Stream project company had already been set up with the Austrian partner in 2010, based on an intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Austria signed in the same year.

Gazprom and OMV signed the memorandum on 29 April, prompting speculation about whether this could lead to the pipeline bypassing Slovenia.

Representatives of the Infrastructure and Spatial Planning Ministry and pipeline operator Plinovodi, Gazprom's Slovenian parter in the project, established at a meeting on Wednesday that Slovenia had fulfilled all its obligations to Russia, that work was progressing undisturbed and that the South Stream is not in peril.

The project is of strategic importance for the EU and Slovenia, and the government has assessed that its realisation is not undermined by the agreement between Gazprom and OMV, according to a press release from the ministry.

The meeting assessed that Slovenia's zoning plans for the pipeline are progressing fast and that Slovenia enjoys a significant advantage over Austria in the project.

Plinovodi boss Marjan Eberlinc told the STA that the route for the first segment of the pipeline between Lendava and Kidričevo (NE) is expected to be laid down by the end of the year and conditions for construction secured next year. In line with plans the pipeline in Slovenia should be operative in 2018, he added.

While Eberlinc said a meeting of both companies is expected at the end of the month to address open issues, the ministry moreover pointed out that the same EU rules applied for Austria and Slovenia.

This means that the execution and success of the project in Slovenia is in no way related to proceedings that the investor needs to conduct in line with the bloc's energy legislation, the ministry said.