Bulgaria and Turkmenistan said Thursday they are to step up their cooperation in the energy sector so as to bolster supply security in the Balkan country and beyond to the European Union.
In a joint declaration signed by Bulgarian President Georgy Parvanov and his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, the two noted "Turkmenistan's key role for the energy security of Bulgaria and the European Union."
At present, Russian gas giant OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) buys almost all of the gas exported by Turkmenistan and sells it on to other countries but Turkmenistan is seeking to diversify its gas exports.
"Bulgaria backed Turkmenistan's efforts for creating mechanisms to ensure secure and stable transit of energy sources for the world markets," Berdymukhamedov told reporters after the signing.
In return, Turkmenistan confirmed its readiness to sell Bulgaria more than 2 billion cubic meters of gas a year, while Bulgaria "would obviously need even more over the coming years," Parvanov said.
The presidents did not indicate when a firm agreement on the purchase might be signed and when the first deliveries can start flowing into Bulgaria.
The most likely route for Turkmenistan to make deliveries will be via the planned E.U. flagship Nabucco pipeline expected to become operational in 2014.
Turkmenistan, Central Asia's largest gas producer, announced in July that it was ready to supply gas for the 3,300-kilometer pipeline to transport gas from the Caspian Sea to Austria via Turkey and the Balkans, breaking a Russian monopoly on Caspian energy exports.
Bulgaria, which currently gets almost all of its gas from Russia via Ukraine, is keen to secure alternate supplies after a Russia-Ukraine price row left it without gas for heating for weeks at the start of this year.
That dispute also disrupted supplies to Western Europe.