Bulgaria and Qatar
have signed a confidentiality deal paving the way for talks on LNG deliveries
from the Arab country, state gas company Bulgargaz said on Friday, as Sofia
seeks to cut dependence on Russian gas.
Qatar is the world's largest
liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer.
"There is a confidentiality agreement
signed so that talks can start," Bulgargaz chief executive Dimitar Gogov told
Reuters. "These talks will define what the quantity will be and when the
deliveries will start."
Bulgaria, the poorest European Union member, has
stepped up efforts to reduce its almost complete reliance on Russian gas by
diversifying routes and supplies after a dispute between Russia and Ukraine in
2009 left it -- and much of the region -- without gas for weeks in freezing
temperatures.
A lack of separate gas links with neighbours and the inability
to reverse gas flows in pipelines that bring Russian gas to Greece and Turkey,
worsened the crisis for the Balkan country.
Since then, Sofia has announced
plans to link its gas network with those of Greece, Romania, Serbia and Turkey
and has signed a memorandum of understanding for gas deliveries from
Azerbaijan.
Under a project between Azeri state oil company Socar and
Bulgaria's Bulgartransgaz, Azeri gas would be transported via a pipeline to
Georgia to be compressed and shipped by tankers to Bulgaria's Black Sea port of
Varna.
Last week, Russia and Bulgaria signed accords to push ahead with the
South Stream natural gas pipeline to deliver gas to central and south Europe,
bypassing Ukraine, which is expected to cement Moscow's hold on European energy
supplies.
Sofia is also supporting the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline which is
planned to run through its territory and has expressed concerns over delays in
its development.