NOVO-OGARYOVO (Moscow Region), November 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Saturday has signed a final agreement with all respective partners on building and utilizing the South Stream gas pipeline.
The intergovernmental document between Russia and Slovenia was earlier signed by the energy ministers of both countries.
"South Stream will become an all-European large energy project and we signed today the final agreement with all of the necessary European partners for us to be able to complete this project," Putin told journalists at his Moscow suburban residence.
The South Stream gas project, scheduled to be completed by 2015, is part of Russia's efforts to cut dependence on transit nations. It is a rival project to the EU-backed Nabucco, which would bypass Russia.
The gas pipeline will run through several European territories, including Slovenia, as well as through the Black and Adriatic seas.
The 25 billion-euro ($36.5 bln) project is designed to annually pump 31 billion cubic meters of Central Asian and Russian gas to the Balkans and on to other European countries, bypassing Ukraine, which has frequent disputes with Russia over gas supplies and transits. The pipeline's capacity is expected to be eventually increased to 63 billion cubic meters.
