South Stream is scheduled to be completed by 2015, but Russian gas giant Gazprom and Italian energy company Eni still have to raise billions of dollars to finance the project.

Serbia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Greece have already agreed to take part in delivering gas from Central Asia and Russia to Central Europe and Italy through the Balkans. Gazprom has also invited Austria to join the project, but at present no response has been given.

The EU imports a quarter of natural gas from Russia mostly via Ukraine. Recently disputes between Kiev and Moscow disrupted supplies to Europe.

Like this story? Why not use our RSS feed and receive updates as soon as they are posted? Or JOIN US as a member and receive periodical newsletters and help us create this site!