BELGRADE, Serbia, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Gazprom officials in Serbia said Thursday that political and economic pressures would do little to delay the South Stream pipeline project.
Alexander Medvedev, the top export official with the Russian energy giant, spoke to officials in Belgrade saying regional pressures will do little to ease Europe's growing energy demands, the Serbian daily B92 said.
"There are political forces outside the Balkans that are not guided by economic interests, but are still trying to disrupt South Stream, leaving Europe without the possibility to satisfy its future natural gas demands, which, by all the indications, are going to increase," he said.
The president of the Russian Gas Union, Valery Yazev, said earlier this week the looming global economic crisis would not cause any delays in major construction projects in the energy sector.
"These projects are so advanced that the crisis will not affect them," he said.
The costly South Stream project is seen as a rival to the Western-backed Nabucco pipeline project. It is intended to partially replace existing routes from Turkey through Bulgaria and Serbia.
