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Bulgaria could be buying "cheap shale gas from Romania" if it builds a natural gas thermal power plant in place of the Belene NPP project, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov declared in a perplexing comment.
Borisov spoke late Friday night at a news conference with Bulgarian Economy Minister Delyan Dobrev, who had just arrived from high profile energy talks in Moscow over the Russian participation in the Bulgarian nuclear project in Belene terminated earlier this week by the Bulgarian government.
"If the Romanians sell cheap shale gas from Chevron, there will be a pipeline, why not buy it since we banned it here, and we are so rich as to buy from Romania," Borisov declared when asked about whether the potential TPP at Belene would be fueled with shale gas from Bulgaria.
Borisov's comment was obviously sarcastic, and apparently expressing irritation at the fact that his government was pressured with protests by the Bulgarian civil society to impose a moratorium on shale gas exploration and extraction, several months after it granted an exploration permit to Chevron.
In the fall and winter of 2011, Bulgaria was swept with protests by environmentalists and other citizens gravely concerned by the possibility that shale gas exploration and extraction could poison the underground waters in Northeastern Bulgaria.
On Thursday, however, the Romanian government issued a permit for shale gas extraction to Chevron for areas along the Bulgarian border.
Borisov has made no mention on whether the Bulgarian Cabinet might launch any sort of actions towards Romania with respect to the shale gas moratorium since the Romanian permit technically negates the effects of the Bulgarian ban, as Northeastern Bulgaria and Southeastern Romania share a major underground water basin.
This has already caused grave concerns in Bulgaria that the shale gas activities in Romania might poison the underground waters of both states.
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