Since the end-2014 official announcement made by Russian President Vladimir Putin about the termination of the South Stream gas project intended to deliver Russian gas to the territory of the European Union via the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, there have been various rumors in Sofia, Moscow and other capitals surrounding the project. This is hardly surprising given the gigantic scale of the facility and its economic potential for many countries. There have been vocal speculations over whether the South Stream will take place or not in connection with developments regarding the questioned North Stream II and the almost failed Turkish Stream. And in the course of all those hints and riddles, quite a new concept has emerged, the so-called Bulgarian Stream. This is a brand new pipeline intended to start from the brainchild of the Bulgarian government – a gas hub on the Black Sea, and reach Central and Western Europe.
So far there has been zero official clarity and so media have been speculating while officials remain silent and even deny the existence of such a project.
However, there is a lot of logic in this facility. The whole of South and Central Europe remains without Russian gas supplies, and Gazprom loses huge potential markets. The logic though is economic while arguments are quite different at the level of politics. Neither Washington, nor Brussels accept further Russification of the energy sector of this group of countries, especially in the light of tense relations with Vladimir Putin. Besides, the failure of both South Stream and Turkish Stream terminated for political reasons in the main, has been telltale how much Europe’s energy is dominated by geopolitics. Won’t the mysterious Bulgarian Stream share the fate of the other two projects? After all, without fixing the political aspects of this mythical gas pipeline, it will no doubt remain in the realm of mythology. The same is likely to happen to the Balkan gas hub cherished by the Bulgarian authorities. It might end up empty of purpose if not supplied with Russian gas.
For the time being, it is clear that nothing is clear. Sporadic and conflicting hints are not enough to draw up a decent notion about the actual plans of all countries involved. So, let us face it that gas fog in both Bulgaria and Europe has progressively thickened.
English Daniela Konstatinova
