Russian natural gas major Gazprom has broken ground on about €15.5 billion ($20.03 billion) South Stream gas pipeline project in Russia.
The project involves construction of a gas pipeline across the Black Sea to southern and central Europe. The offshore section of the South Stream gas pipeline will pass under the Black Sea from the Russkaya compressor station to the coast of Bulgaria.
The Black Sea section of the pipeline will have a total length of more than 900km and will be installed at a maximum depth of more than 2km. The pipeline will have a design capacity of 63 billion cubic metres of gas. The project is expected to be commissioned in late 2015.
The project embodies the intention of Russia and the countries of southern and central Europe to strengthen the partnership in the energy sector and to create a new reliable system of Russian gas supplies to European consumers.