Kommersant has learned that the offshore section of the South Stream pipeline would now be diverted to reach Romania instead of the Bulgarian port of Varna as initially planned.
The intention is that the pipe would run across Romania instead of Bulgaria, punishing Sofia for undelivered promises.
Plans to eliminate Bulgaria from South Stream were first reported by the Russian press last October (EurActiv 20/10/09) and were later confirmed in February (EurActiv 19/02/10).
The final straw came with Bulgaria's surprise withdrawal from a Russia-sponsored project for an oil connection running under the Black Sea.
Meeting with EU ambassadors in Sofia on 11 June, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov announced Sofia's withdrawal from the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline.
The announcement came as a big surprise to observers, and even to the country's energy minister, Traicho Traikov, who said he did not believe the statement was true.
The planned pipeline, led by Russian firms, is designed to provide a short cut to Greece's Aegean coast from the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, thereby relieving tanker congestion in the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles.
Borissov explained that the decision was a result of environmental concerns, as Bulgaria did not want an ecological disaster similar to the one affecting the US in the Gulf of Mexico.
Greek leftist MPs commented that Bulgaria's decision was the result of US political pressure. Forbes magazine also commented that the move had come following a two-day visit to Sofia by CIA Director Leon Panetta, the result of which was seen as a major geopolitical tilt by Bulgaria from Moscow to Washington.
In any case, Russia's decision appears to be unambiguous, with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller holding talks on Wednesday with Romanian Economy Minister Adrian Videanu and the heads of gas companies Romgaz and Transgaz, one of which is expected to become the Romanian partner in the South Stream project.
As Gazprom sources explained, in the course of a few months, it had become possible to design a route for South Stream across Romania.
Gazprom sources told Kommersant that building South Stream across Romania and Slovenia to Italy would be commercially more attractive, as it could be built in parallel with a planned oil pipeline, namely Constanta-Trieste.
