Chancellor Faymann doesn't see South Stream as Nabucco's rival.
In fact, as Austrian Federal Chancellor Werner Faymann said at a meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow yesterday, Austria is quite comfortable with the South Stream gas pipeline project.
"An additional route, i.e. South Stream, is in Austria's interests and the federal government decided two weeks ago to authorise the holding of negotiations on the matter," Faymann said after talks with Putin.
For his part, the Russian prime minister noted that Russia and Austria were committed to preparing an early agreement on South Stream. "A special agreement between our countries on cooperation in implementing the project is currently being prepared. Mr Faymann and I both agree that work on the document should be completed as soon as possible," Putin said.
The Austrian chancellor added that he didn't see South Stream and Nabucco as rival projects because both would help diversify gas supplies and ensure Europe's energy security. "We think all the projects are competitive. They'll all contribute to energy security," Chancellor Faymann explained.
Whenever Putin negotiates the issue of gas supplies with his Western counterparts, he never fails to mention the problems that may arise with Ukraine. And he issued that warning this time around, as well. In a meeting with Chancellor Faymann, Vladimir Putin said that the Russian side would reduce the supply of gas through Ukraine if Kiev started to illegally siphon off gas it has not paid for. And South Stream can prove useful in that context as well: Putin noted that one of its objectives would be to discipline Ukraine.
South Stream will be built from the coast of the Russian Black Sea to Bulgaria, bypassing Ukraine and then continuing to southern Italy and Austria. The 900-km gas pipeline system will carry 63 billion cubic metres of gas a year.
Andrei Biryukov