"South Stream should be exempt from Third Energy Package"

VRDNIK Slobodan Sokolovic has said he expect the South Stream gas pipeline would be exempt from implementing the EU Third Energy Package. Five interconnections have already secured that right, the secretary general of the National Petroleum Committee of Serbia noted. "South Stream should be exempt from Third Energy Package" The last to obtain the status, in May this year, was the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) which was exempt from implementing the EU Third Energy Package for 25 years, Sokolovic said at an energy seminar for journalists in Vrdnik, north-western Serbia. Among other things, the EU Third Energy Package envisages that a gas supplier cannot be at the same time the owner of the pipeline transporting gas, and that the capacity of the gas pipeline must be at disposal to other interested parties. Sokolovic specified that regulatory bodies of the states taking part in the TAP first made the decision to exempt the project from the rules of the Third Energy Package, and noted that, based on those decisions, the European Commission then granted the so-called 'derogation', thus exempting the TAP from the Gas Directive. The issues relating to the implementation of the EU Third Energy Package should be resolved in direct communication between Brussels and Washington, Sokolovic said, expressing expectation that solutions would be found based on some similar experiences up to this point. Sokolovic noted that Serbia is obliged to implement provisions of the EU Third Energy Package in the internal market, which does not refer to the gas interconnection in which Serbia is not a majority, but rather a minority shareholder. South Stream is a European construction project in which, besides Russia's Gazprom with shares of 50 percent, companies from Germany, Italy and France are also investing. The construction of the Serbian section of South Stream officially began on November 24, and works should be intensified in February 2014. (Tanjug, file) Tanjug

"South Stream should be exempt from Third Energy Package"

The last to obtain the status, in May this year, was the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) which was exempt from implementing the EU Third Energy Package for 25 years, Sokolović said at an energy seminar for journalists in Vrdnik, north-western Serbia.

Among other things, the EU Third Energy Package envisages that a gas supplier cannot be at the same time the owner of the pipeline transporting gas, and that the capacity of the gas pipeline must be at disposal to other interested parties.

Sokolović specified that regulatory bodies of the states taking part in the TAP first made the decision to exempt the project from the rules of the Third Energy Package, and noted that, based on those decisions, the European Commission then granted the so-called 'derogation', thus exempting the TAP from the Gas Directive.

The issues relating to the implementation of the EU Third Energy Package should be resolved in direct communication between Brussels and Washington, Sokolović said, expressing expectation that solutions would be found based on some similar experiences up to this point.

Sokolović noted that Serbia is obliged to implement provisions of the EU Third Energy Package in the internal market, which does not refer to the gas interconnection in which Serbia is not a majority, but rather a minority shareholder.

South Stream is a European construction project in which, besides Russia's Gazprom with shares of 50 percent, companies from Germany, Italy and France are also investing.

The construction of the Serbian section of South Stream officially began on November 24, and works should be intensified in February 2014.