Gazprom said it has pushed forward the start of construction of the South Stream pipeline, designed to bypass countries such as Ukraine through which Russian natural gas is now piped to Europe.
"The plan ... will allow us to start the gas pipeline construction as early as December 2012, not in 2013 as had been planned before," Gazprom said, adding that the board of South Stream Transport will be presented with the construction timetable in February.
It didn't say whether 2015 is still mooted as the year when gas will begin flowing through the pipeline.
(Reuters)
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