South Stream costs 'soar to $39bn'

Symbolic: welding of two sections of the South Stream pipeline at start of construction in December

The cost of the South Stream gas pipeline being built from Russia to southern Europe has reportedly soared due to the need to upgrade the Russian trunkline network to connect with the new route.

Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said it will need to invest an additional 510 billion roubles ($16.9 billion) to upgrade domestic pipe capacity, increasing the overall cost of South Stream to €29 billion ($39 billion) from the previous figure of around $21 million, Reuters reported.

Most of the upgrade expense, 232 billion roubles, would be spent on boosting the capacity of a trunkline from Ukhta in northern Russia to Torzhok, 230 kilometres north of Moscow.

Gazprom leads an international consortium that started construction in December of the gas pipeline that will run from Russia across the Black Sea to Bulgaria and onwards…

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