"The [South Stream] pipeline will either cross the exclusive economic zone of Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria, or Russia, Turkey and Bulgaria. But prior and large-scale research must be done before one of them is chosen. Since the recent verbal agreements with Turkey, we have been studying primarily the possibility of laying this gas pipeline through the Turkish economic zone of the Black Sea", Gazprom official spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said in an interview with HotNews.ro.

Rep.: Gazprom said a couple of months ago that the price of gas for Romania will be 220 dollars until the end of the year. Can you explain how will we come to this amount and when exactly this price will be paid by Romania? Sergei Kupriyanov: We have never given a specific price forecast on our contracts for Romania, or any other country for that matter. Publicly we only refer to average price forecasts for Europe - our main export market. These numbers are based on the existing consensus as regards forecasts on the prices of oil and petroleum products. We were initially forecasting an average price of $260/tcm for Europe for 2009. However, oil prices have increased to more than $60 per barrel, and this is why the increase of the average gas price in Europe to about $270-290 range.

Rep.: Mr. Putin has sent the Romanian president a message that Gazprom is willing to give up the intermediate companies that sell the Russian gas to Romania. Can you translate for us the messages sent by Mr. Putin? Have there been talks with the Romanian minister about such things when he visited Russia you and what exactly have you decided? Sergei Kupriyanov: There are two long-term gas supply contracts between Gazprom and its Romanian partners Conef Energy and WIEE in effect until 2030.. However, if an additional demand for gas arises in your country, Gazprom Group will certainly be prepared to