Moscow (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The South Stream gas pipeline from Russia to Italy will be delayed for at least two years. Many experts comment that the growing cost of the project could cause a "rethinking" by Russian company Gazprom. According to the Russian financial newspaper Vedomosti, state-owned Gazprom, a leader in the energy sector, expects the pipeline to be operating by 2015. This is a significant delay with respect to the forecast by Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, who just a few months ago said that construction would be completed in 2013.

The project, headed by Gazprom and by Italy's Eni, among others, is intended to transport 31 billion cubic meters (mmc) per year, passing under the Black Sea and through Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, and Serbia into Italy. But the cost of the operation has increased to 14.7 billion euros, and is expected to rise by even more.

Experts comment that this gas pipeline could free Moscow from the ones passing through Ukraine and Turkey, especially after the 2007 disputes with Kiev. But the Druzhba gas pipeline, which passes through Ukraine, carries 130 mmc of gas per year, four times the capacity of the South Stream, making the new pipeline apparently insufficient for bypassing Ukraine. Thanks to its position, Ukraine pays Gazprom 179.5 dollars for every thousand cubic meters of gas, while Europe pays 4,000-5,000 dollars. But many maintain that it is preferable to renegotiate the price with Ukraine, rather than face the cost of the South Stream pipeline.

The project is also politically motivated. Moscow wants to weaken the Nabucco project, intended to bring energy from central Asia, from Baku in Azerbaijan to Austria. But there is also the Russian-German North Stream project for a gas pipeline on the bed of the Baltic Sea, crossing Poland and the Baltic states.