MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The South Stream gas pipeline was suspended by Bulgaria at the request of the European Commission in June 2014 as it was deemed non-compliant with the European Union's Third Energy Package, which prohibits companies from both owning the gas and operating the pipeline. Russian President Vladimir Putin officially canceled the project in December 2014.
"The southern direction is not yet written off. Sometime in February, I think Gazprom signed a memorandum of mutual understanding together with Italy’s Edison and Greece’s DEPA on the possible gas deliveries through third countries under the Black Sea to Greece, then Italy," Lavrov said.
The February 24 agreement revives the Interconnector Turkey–Greece–Italy (ITGI) project, formerly planned as a part of the Southern Gas Corridor.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak estimated last month that the ITGI Poseidon project’s land section would range in the 9-16 billion cubic meters of gas per year, while its sea leg would deliver 10-12 billion cubic meters a year.
