Bulgaria wants to be linked to a strategic pipeline channeling gas from a massive Caspian Sea gas field in Azerbaijan to Europe via Turkey and Greece, its Economy and Energy Minister said on Friday, according to AFP.
‘We will start discussing how Bulgaria can be linked to this gas pipeline,” Rumen Ovchavov said.
His Turkish and Greek counterparts said on Friday during a visit to Sofia that they supported in principle Bulgaria’s participation in the gas pipeline.
British energy giant BP announced in September that it would start production at the end of the month on the massive Caspian Sea gas field Shah Deniz, which will provide Europe with an extra source of fuel.
The Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan, whose major shareholders are Britain’s BP, Norway’s Statoil and the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR, will feed a new South Caucasus pipeline crossing Azerbaijan and Georgia before terminating in the Turkish city of Erzurum, where it will link up with European networks to Greece and Italy.
The pipeline which is being built to supply energy-hungry Europe, will have the added effect of loosening Russia’s grip on energy markets in Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Bulgaria, which is also wholly dependent on Russian gas imports is not located on the pipeline’s immediate path but wants to branch into it to diversify its gas supplies.
Bulgaria has also expressed readiness to participate in the Nabucco pipeline project channeling gas from Iran to Europe.
It is currently discussing with Russian energy giant Gazprom a hike in natural gas prices. They used to be preferential treatment but Gazprom has said they can no longer remain so.
Last week, Bulgaria chose Russia’s Atomstroyexport to build a EUR4 billion nuclear plant in the northern Bulgarian town of Belene. It hopes the deal will help it negotiate better price for gas supplies.
On Bulgarian national television on Friday, Energy Minister Ovcharov said indeed that “there was some connection” between the two deals.
(AFP, 04/11/2006)