Vladimir Putin, who is going to Austria...
When it joins South Stream, it will become Europe"s largest gas hub.The pipeline is to go along the Black Sea bed before splitting into two lines, one going to Austria and the other to Italy. The 900-km (559-mile) underwater part of the pipeline will be laid at a depth of 2 km from the Beregovaya compressor station in Russia to Bulgaria.
When it reaches its designed capacity in 2015, it will be able to transship 63 billion cubic meters annually.
Austria imports 87% of its gas and oil requirements. Russia accounts for 47% of its gas imports, 37% comes from Austria"s own reserves and about 9% from Norway.
Russia"s Gazprom owns 3% of OMV, Austria"s largest energy company.
Vienna is a perfect place for thinking about Russian-European gas friendship, its bright future and the benefits of all parties involved. In fact, Russia has always had a special relationship with Austria, the land of Strauss, strudel and schnitzel.