俄放棄南溪輸氣管道震驚東歐

Eastern European nations reacted with shock and anger to Russia’s decision to abandon South Stream, its $50bn gas pipeline across the Black Sea into Europe, as shares in some of the companies involved in the project dived.

東歐國家對俄羅斯決定放棄穿越黑海進入歐洲的500億美元“南溪”(South Stream)天然氣管道項目表示震驚和氣憤。一些參與該項目的公司股價跳水。

Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary said they had received no advance warning that Moscow was scrapping South Stream, even though they all had substantial financial and political capital invested in the project. Russia said it would export its gas to a trade hub in Turkey instead.

保加利亞、塞爾維亞和匈牙利稱，他們沒有收到莫斯科方面放棄南溪項目的提前預警，即便他們都對該項目投入了大量財務和政治資本。俄羅斯表示，將把天然氣輸送到土耳其的一箇中轉站。

South Stream is so far the biggest casualty of the falling-out between Russia and the EU over Moscow’s military involvement in Ukraine.

南溪項目成爲俄羅斯和歐盟因俄方軍事幹預烏克蘭鬧翻以來迄今最大的犧牲品。

The project, backed by Russia’s state-controlled gas group Gazprom, was designed to bring Russian gas into Europe bypassing Ukraine. It gained momentum after a series of price disputes between Moscow and Kiev last decade led to supply cuts for some of Gazprom’s European customers.

該項目此前得到俄羅斯國有控股的俄羅斯天然氣工業股份公司(Gazprom)的支持，其設計宗旨是繞開烏克蘭向歐洲輸送俄羅斯天然氣。俄烏之間過去10年裏曾爆發一系列價格糾紛，屢次導致Gazprom的一些歐洲客戶天然氣供應中斷，這一背景曾經增強南溪項目的勢頭。

But there were fears in Brussels that the pipeline would cement Gazprom’s domination of the European gas market. The European Commission insisted other gas suppliers be given access to South Stream, arguing that the idea of Gazprom both supplying the gas and owning the pipeline violated EU competition rules.

但歐盟委員會(European Commission)擔憂，該管道將鞏固Gazprom在歐洲天然氣市場的霸主地位。歐盟委員會堅持南溪項目應當允許其他天然氣供應商參與輸氣，稱Gazprom既供應天然氣又擁有管道的構想違背了歐盟的競爭規則。

However, the project was backed by several countries in south-eastern Europe, which saw it as improving their energy security. They also looked forward to earning money from transit fees for Russian gas crossing their territory.

然而，該項目得到了歐洲東南部幾個國家的支持，他們認爲這條管道有利於自己的能源安全，也期待獲利於俄羅斯天然氣的過境運輸費。

Countries in the region lost another key supply option last year when the rival EU-backed Nabucco project that would have carried gas from Azerbaijan into the heart of Europe was scrapped.

去年，南溪項目的競爭者、歐盟支持的擬將天然氣從阿塞拜疆輸往歐洲腹地的納布科(Nabucco)管道項目被放棄，已經使該地區國家失去一個重要的供應選項。