15 Oct 2010 / 08:41
Bulgaria and Russia have agreed to speed up negotiations on the South Stream gas pipeline, Alexei Miller, CEO of the Russian energy giant Gazprom, said today in Sofia.
Boryana Dzhambazova
Miller explained that the two sides had made significant progress in speeding up the process of implementing the South Stream project, following his meeting with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Economy Minister Traicho Traikov on Friday.
Next week the two countries are expected to sign an agreement to carry out a study on the Bulgarian branch of South Stream.
Bulgarian and Russian officials also decided to establish a joint venture that would operate the South Stream’s section in Bulgaria. The company will be created in November.
Traikov said that the quick implementation of the pipeline project is in Bulgaria’s interest. At the same time, Sofia stongly supports the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline, which aims to diversify Europe’s gas supplies and is seen as the main rival of South Stream.
Despite government expectations, the topic of cuts in gas prices for Bulgaria was not discussed.
Miller expressed hope that the South Stream would start pumping gas to Europe by the end of 2015. Earlier, another Gazprom official, quoted by AFP, said that the pipeline will be fully operational in 2018.
Just two days ago Miller met with Romanian state officials to discuss the possibility of Romanian participation in the project. Gazprom has denied widespread speculation that Bucharest could replace Sofia in the gas corridor, but local observers see the meetings with Romania as a means to put pressure on Bulgaria, which is highly dependant on Moscow's gas.
In addition to South Stream, Bulgaria is involved in two other major Russian-backed energy projects – the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline and the Belene Nuclear Power Plant. But their future is still uncertain, as the government has taken no final decisions on country's participation in them.
balkan insight
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