MOSCOW, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Russian gas monopoly Gazprom nailed down the price of the South Stream natural gas pipeline for Europe at $20.1 billion, the company said.
Russia aims to find alternate routes to ship natural gas to European consumers. South Stream would move 2.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to Europe per year after it passes through the Turkish waters of the Black Sea.
South Stream would branch into two sections -- one to Greece and Italy and another through Austria -- once it reaches Bulgarian territory.
The Russian gas monopoly said in a section of its corporate magazine it would cost $13 billion to build the offshore section of the pipeline and another $7.1 bill for the onshore link, the Bloomberg news agency reports.
Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported last year that Gazprom in February 2009 estimated the cost of the pipeline at between $24.7 billion to $31.2 billion, which made it the most expensive project to date for the gas company.
Alexei Miller, the chief executive at Gazprom, said in November Europe didn't have the existing infrastructure capacity to meet long-term natural gas demands.
European officials complained that while South Stream was important for European energy needs, it did little in terms of concrete diversification.
