Bulgaria's Nabucco Opera Not Music to Putin's Ears

From neurope.eu (New Europe)

By Kostis Geropoulos

As the race between the two competing regional gas pipelines of South Stream and Nabucco continues, Bulgaria picked sides through the mouth of Bulgarian Foreign Minister Rumjana Zheleva, saying Sofia will give priority to the EU-backed Nabucco gas pipeline project over Moscow’s rival plan. At an energy conference in Sofia on 2 November, Zheleva stressed that Bulgaria, an EU member since 2007, currently acquires virtually all of its gas from Russia, declaring her country’s preference for Nabucco.

Succumbing to Russian Premier Vladimir Putin’s pressure, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, who took over after elections in July, had said earlier that Bulgaria would remain partnered with Russia in pipeline projects.

“There is some discrepancy between the previous statement and this. But the minister did say it and she means it,” Peter Poptchev, Bulgarian ambassador at large for energy security, told New Europe on 4 November. “She did prioritize Nabucco and she will work on this,” he said. Zheleva met in Sofia with former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer, who is now an adviser for partners in the Nabucco consortium, Germany’s RWE and Austria’s OMV.

Poptchev, who is the Bulgarian national coordinator for the Nabucco project and has advised Zheleva about the gas pipeline project, expects Borisov and Zheleva follow through with additional statements. “This is music to my ears,” he said. “But, I would still wait for some more residual push to happen, so that more consistency and leeway will be provided to our actions for Nabucco because by definition these actions will have to be coordinated with the other partners in Nabucco,” he said, adding that Nabucco is a collaborative project.

But Bulgaria’s decision to give priority to Nabucco over South Stream hit a sour note with Putin, who has gone out of his way to politically support South Stream, stressing late last month that the pipeline could be completed earlier than scheduled. Bulgaria, which is almost entirely dependent on Russian gas and was particularly hard hit by the Russia-Ukraine crisis last winter, can brace for some cold nights without heating.

Poptchev, however, downplayed the rivalry between Nabucco and South Stream, saying that it’s up to the Bulgarian government to decide. He urged European and Russian experts to discuss these projects. He noted that Gazprom and ENI’s decision to double South Stream’s capacity to 63 billion cubic meters has already put additional pressure on the resource base and the market for Nabucco.

Azerbaijan and Iraq can be an initial resource base for Nabucco, he said, expressing his hope that the pipeline will also transport Turkmen gas. “Turkmenistan is also among the resource countries but has put Nabucco lower in their priority order,” he said.

“If the EU is serious about having Nabucco as a priority project, which has been the official line of the EU since March 2007, it is only natural for EU member states, in particular the four EU member states which are partners to the intergovernmental agreement, to follow a line of prioritization of Nabucco and this something that Russia should be able to live with,” Poptchev told New Europe. Whether Putin will live with it is a completely different matter, and he’s used to calling the tunes. In any case, we have already seen a clash between the two projects. And Putin does not like to lose!