Bulgaria’s environment ministry approved the environmental impact assessment
(EIA) report on the country's offshore section of the South Stream gas pipeline,
the ministry said on Monday.
The high expert environmental council with
the environment ministry has unanimously adopted a decision to approve the
implementation of the investment proposal for the construction of the Bulgarian
offshore section of the South Stream gas pipeline, the environment ministry said
in a press release.
The Gazprom-spearheaded South Stream pipeline will
supply natural gas from Russia to central and southeastern Europe. Its offshore
part will run from Russia's Black Sea shore across the Turkish exclusive
economic zone to the Bulgarian cost near Varna and will consist of four pipeline
strings with annual capacity expected to reach 63 billion cubic metres.
Commercial operation is scheduled to start by the end of 2015.
The
Bulgarian section of the project will be approximately 236 kilometers in length.
It runs from the border between the Turkish and the Bulgarian exclusive economic
zone in the Black Sea, to the landfall in Bulgaria. From there, natural gas will
be transported through the country by South Stream Bulgaria AD and further by
other joint ventures into Southeast and Central Europe.
Reacting to
public concern on the project's possible effect on the Pasha Dere Beach near
Varna, South Stream Transport, the company in charge of the construction of the
offshore section of the pipeline, has developed an alternative construction
method which does not involve any construction or digging works taking place at
the surface, the ministry said.
The EIA Report was prepared by the
independent international company URS Infrastructure & Environment UK Ltd.,
based in the United Kingdom, in collaboration with two Bulgarian environmental
consulting companies, POVVIK AD and Geomarine Ltd. South Stream Transport has
said.