© AFP Photo / Sergei Supinsky
The South Stream gas pipeline, which bypasses Ukraine, may halve the value of Ukraine's gas transportation system (GTS), according to Andrey Kobolev the head of Ukraine's Naftogaz.
After the Russian - led South Stream project is complete and working at full capacity,
the value of Ukraine's GTS may fall as much 50 percent from the present estimate of $25-$35 billion, RIA Novosti quotes the head of the company.
"We have no wish to lose it, and it's unreasonable," Kobolev said on a Ukrainian local TV channel.
Construction of the South Stream pipeline in
Bulgaria and Serbia was suspended following pressure from the EU to comply with competition law. After a while construction
resumed.
"They [Gazprom] are ready to invest their
own 15 billion euro in South Stream construction ...
This gas pipeline will take away from the Ukrainian transit potentially up to 60 billion cubic meters. Currently the transit carries 86 billion cubic meters," Kobolev said.
Comment: It will be very interesting to follow how the BRICS countries' alternative framework comes together in the face of a collapsing dollar. When the dollar goes, the other oppressive functions of a faltering US-led empire will go with it.
See also:
The birth of a Eurasian century: Russia and China do Pipelineistan
Moving towards a multipolar world: BRICS countries to set up their own IMF
The Geopolitics of the Eurasian Economic Union