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Analyst Vladimir Socor said Wednesday, at the Europe-Russia Forum, the South Stream project was not feasible at all and that Russia was using it to block its competitor, the Nabucco project.

"Russia is using South Stream to block Nabucco and the whole southern corridor. Thus, Nabucco could be blocked in two ways: by suggesting that Russia has priority to the Central Asia gas and, secondly, by inhibiting the Western investors, which would hesitate to get involved in the Nabucco project if Russia declared that South Stream could be a real project. Stream South has neither gas, nor funds", said analyst Vladimir Socor, member of the Jamestown Foundation from the United States.

Socor also said that, now, Nabucco has more chances to be achieved, compared to the South Stream project, which had no chance.  "Nobody will find 19-24 billion dollars to achieve the South Stream. This project is completely unfeasible," Socor considers.

Referring to Russia's intention to build storage facilities with the Romanian producer Romgaz, Vladimir Socor said that projects like Roman-Mărgineni coincide with Russia's current policy.

Vladimir Socor attended on Wednesday the Europe-Russia Economic Forum, which is taking place in Bucharest, during the period 25-27 May.

Rival of the Nabucco project, designed to avoid Russia, South Stream was launched in 2007 and aims at strengthening Russia's role as the main supplier of natural gas to Europe. The pipeline will pass through the Black Sea, avoiding Ukraine, linking Russia to Bulgaria, from where it will split into two branches, one towards north-west, to Austria, and a southern one, to Greece and Italy. The South Stream operators, Russian monopoly Gazprom and Italian group ENI, have recently announced the increase of the pipeline's capacity from 31 to 63 billion cubic meters.

The Nabucco project will connect the Caspian Sea to Austria, transiting Turkey, to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas. The Nabucco pipeline will start from Turkey, passing through Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, and will arrive near Baumgarten (Baumgarten West) - having a total length of 3300 kilometres. At present, the consortium shareholders are OMV, MOL, Transgaz, Bulgarian Energy Holding, BOTAS and RWE. The capacity planned for the final stage of development is 31 billion cubic metres. The total investments currently total 7.9 billion euros. Nabucco could be commissioned in 2014.