Bulgaria and Turkey with joint energy projects

published on 10/5/10 12:15 PM

Photo: БГНЕС

Energy security and possible joint energy projects were major topics in the discussions between Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayip Erdogan in Sofia. The Turkish Prime Minister was on a one-day official visit to Bulgaria at the invitation of Mr. Borissov.
In January during the visit of PM Borissov to Ankara, a memo of cooperation in the energy sector was signed. Cooperation in the work on the Nabucco gas pipeline project, which is planned to provide gas from the Middle East and Caspian basin to EU, was also a topic of the discussions in Sofia. The project will diversify gas deliveries to Europe and prevent gas crises in case of stopped Russian delivery, as in the beginning of 2009.

The Nabucco pipeline has a planned length of 3300 kilometers, while the annual capacity would be 13 billion cubic meters of gas. It is expected that after the alternative Russian project called South Stream starts, its development will be rapid. The Nabucco Gas Pipeline International, established in Vienna in 2004 is to realize the European mega project. Participation is the international company has Bulgarian company Bulgargaz, together with partners from Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, and Turkey. Major international banks have already provided a financing of 4 billion euro for the project. After the meeting in Sofia, Mr. Borissov announced that Bulgaria and Turkey would start building a pipeline to connect the gas networks of the countries. The pipeline will also become part of the Nabucco project. The Bulgarian Prime Minister will insist in Brussels that the project receives part of the European financing provided for Nabucco, currently amounting to 200 million euro. Sofia and Ankara hope to receive 33 million euro each to construct the connecting pipeline.

“It very important for us that we can start building a gas pipeline to connect the gas networks of Turkey and Bulgaria,” the Bulgarian Prime Minister pointed out. “This will be the first step towards diversifying gas deliveries to Bulgaria.”

“Some of the major steps our two countries made are in relation to the Nabucco gas pipeline project,” Turkish PM Recep Erdogan noted. “It is possible that another gas connection between Bulgaria and Turkey is built, but expert talks on this project are forthcoming. Connection between several neighboring countries is another possible future step in our cooperation,” the Turkish PM said.

English: Alexander Markov

По публикацията работи: Tatyana Obretenova

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Bulgaria and Turkey with joint energy projects

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