Mogherini: EU Needs to Increase Energy Security Amid South Stream Closure

BRUSSELS, December 2 (Sputnik) — Russia's decision to scrap the South Stream pipeline project signifies the need to strengthen the European Union's (EU) energy security and requires further analysis by the EU member states, EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini said Tuesday.

According to Mogherini, talking to journalists on the sidelines of the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels, there is a need to diversify not only the channels but also the sources from which the EU gets its energy.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia was scrapping the South Stream gas pipeline project, citing the European Commission's position on the issue as one of the reasons. Later that day Alexey Miller, the CEO of Russia's energy giant Gazprom, said that Russia was closing the South Stream project and had no plans to revive it. However, according to Miller Gazprom will build a new Black Sea gas pipeline to deliver Russian natural gas to Turkey.

South Stream, designed to reduce the uncertainties of Russian gas delivery to Europe through the territory of Ukraine, was expected to be fully operational by 2018. The European Commission has taken a critical stance on the project, claiming that construction of the pipeline violated the EU Third Energy Package, according to which it is illegal to own a pipeline and produce the natural gas that flows through it at the same time. Moscow has insisted that the construction did not contradict the regulations.