Russian Natural Gas Pipelines
Yamal-Europe I carries Russian gas to Poland and Germany via Belarus with a throughput capacity of 1.2 Tcf annually. The currently proposed Yamal-Europe II would expand the existing pipeline by 1 Tcf, although disputes between Poland and Gazprom on routing of the pipeline make the project less likely. Yamburg-Uzhgorod, Orenburg-Uzhgorod, Urengoy-Uzhgorod, and Dolina-Uzhgorod were four pipelines, with annual combined throughput capacity of between 700 Bcf and 1 Tcf that carry Russian gas to Western European countries (mainly Germany, Italy, and France) via Ukraine. Nord Stream was a 760-mile offshore twin pipeline that runs between Vyborg, Russia and Greifswald, Germany along the Baltic seabed. Its annual throughput capacity was 1.9 Tcf, and it ships gas from Yuzhno-Russkoye field directly to Germany and northern Europe. The first line was launched in November 2011, and the second line was placed into service at the end of 2012.
Russia was forced to withdraw from the South Stream project due to the EU’s unwillingness to support the pipeline, and gas flows will be redirected to other customers, Vladimir Putin said 01 December 2014 after talks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"We believe that the stance of the European Commission was counterproductive. In fact, the European Commission not only provided no help in implementation of [the South Stream pipeline], but, as we see, obstacles were created to its implementation. Well, if Europe doesn’t want it implemented, it won’t be implemented,” the Russian president said.
The South Stream project was at the stage when “the construction of the pipeline system in the Black Sea must begin,” but Russia still hasn’t received an approval for the project from Bulgaria, the Russian president said.
By 2018, when the gas pipeline would have been fully functional, South Stream would have bypassed Ukraine, through whose territory half of Russia's gas to Europe now transits. Abandoning South Stream was a diplomatic fiasco for Putin. South Stream would have supplied 63 billion cubic meters of gas a year, which represents more than $25 billion in annual revenue.
Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller said 01 December 2014 the energy giant will build a massive gas pipeline that will travel from Russia, transit through Turkey, and stop at the Greek border – giving Russia access to the Southern European market. The pipeline will have an annual capacity of 63 billion cubic meters. A total of 14 bcm will be delivered to Turkey, which was Gazprom’s second biggest customer in the region after Germany.
The South Stream pipeline was designed to carry Russian gas to the EU bypassing Ukraine. Gas would be pumped to the Bulgaria’s Black Sea port of Varna before extending overland through Serbia, Hungary, and Slovenia to supply gas to the Western Europe via Italy and Austria. The pipeline’s capacity amounts to 63 billion cubic meters.
South Stream pipeline would transport natural gas from Izobilnoye in Russia and would run for 560 miles under the Black Sea, achieving a maximum water depth of over 6,500 feet. The second, onshore component would cross Bulgaria. As a result of the Russia-Ukraine disputes, the pipeline would be constructed through Turkey's waters, avoiding Ukraine's territory altogether. Construction began in December 2012, and the first gas was initially expected to flow by 2015.
By 2014 Russia had begun building South Stream to carry up to 15 percent of Europe's annual gas demand via the Black Sea by 2018. But the pipeline had not met EU law, which did not allow energy producers and distributors to own the pipelines they use. It also required bilateral agreements between Russia and the nations through which South Stream would pass to comply with EU legislation.
Bulgaria suspended works on the South Stream project over the European Commission’s infringement proceedings, Bulgarian Prime Minister Plamen Oresharrski said on 08 June 2014 after a meeting with American Senators. "We have received a request from the European Commission, after which I ordered to suspend the works. Further actions will be clear after additional consultations with Brussels," he said.
Bulgaria has not given up on plans to build the South Stream pipeline delivering Russian natural gas to Europe and sees the Gazprom-led project as irreversible, Energy Minister Dragomir Stoynev said on June 09, 2014. Stoynev said in a statement he was certain South Stream would be built once disputes over how to structure it as a European project were cleared.
Russia can occupy one fifth of the world market of liquefied natural gas by 2025, the project of the energy strategy of Russia until 2035 developed by the Ministry of Energy stated in March 2014. So-called independent producers would provide the major growth of LNG’s export through developing new fields. Novatek was developing the Yamal LNG project, and Rosneft in conjunction with the American ExxonMobil were looking at liquefied natural gas on Sakhalin. Russia, which occupied four percent of the LNG market, intended to press world leaders. According to forecasts of the Ministry of Energy, its share would increase to 14 percent by 2020, and by 2025, Russia would occupy one fifth of the market. Earlier, the forecasts of the Ministry of Energy were more modest - about 15 percent, but the growing risks of deliveries of pipe gas prompted to reconsider the role of liquefied fuel. As of 2014, the largest LNG producers were Indonesia, Malaysia and Qatar. The latter annually sold about 80 million tons of liquefied fuel. The Ministry of Energy plan was dealing with 87 million tons of Russian LNG export per year.
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