Bulgaria Backs Nord Stream-2, Standing Up for Own Gas Hub Project

Business » ENERGY | November 30, 2015, Monday // 09:15
Bulgaria: Bulgaria Backs Nord Stream-2, Standing Up for Own Gas Hub Project Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov at the EU-Turkey summit of November 29, 2015. Photo by BGNES

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said on Sunday Sofia is not intending to take action against the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project.

On the sidelines of an EU-Turkey summit in Brussels, he commented on last week's reports by Reuters that Sofia would be one of the signatories to a letter calling on the EU Commission to scrutinize the project.

Nord Stream-2 would virtually double the capacity of the existing pipeline delivering gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea (currently at 55 billion cubic meters per year). The new project, however, will also bring direct supplies to other countries such as the UK and France.

Ukraine and the Baltic countries, however, have repeatedly warned the project might threaten the EU's energy security.

Bulgaria is also determined that its gas hub proposal - one under which a gas distribution center should be set up at the Bulgarian Black Sea coast - should be embraced by Russia and the EU.

"I still think that the gas distribution center, or the hub, or whatever you call it, in Bulgaria, one that should received liquefied gas [LNG] and Russian gas, and also gas from our [Bulgaria's] deposits, is a big reality [sic!]," the Bulgarian News Agency quotes him as saying.

This position is "beneficial for Bulgaria" and the government should not be reproached by it, he added.

Borisov also made clear he deemed the two projects to be "interlinked", but did not go into details. 

So far Russia has made clear it does not plan on building a gas hub in Bulgaria or an extension of the so-called Turkish Stream pipeline. The latter is to replace the South Stream pipeline project which Russia abandoned in December of last year and which was to carry gas from Russia to Central Europe via Bulgaria and Serbia.

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Tags: Bulgaria, Nord Stream-2, Ukraine, gas hub, Baltics. Boyko Borisov, Borisov, turkey, EU Commission

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