The planned Nabucco natural gas pipeline. File Photo
The European Commission has approved the requested financial aid for construction gas pipeline connections from Bulgaria to Greece and Romania.
This has been announced Friday night by the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy, Energy, and Transport.
Thus, the Commission has approved the granting of EUR 45 M for the construction of a connection between the natural gas systems of Bulgaria and Greece. Another EUR 9 M will be allocated to the construction of a similar gas pipeline.
In addition, the EC has also proved in favor of a setting aside EUR 200 M to back the Nabucco gas transit pipeline.
The EC decision will be considered on December 7, 2009, the Council of Energy Ministers is supposed to approve the sums.
The initiative to connect Bulgaria's natural gas transport network to its neighbors received a boost as a result of the January 2009 Russia-Ukraine gas crisis when the cutoff of Russian gas supplies exposed the fact that Bulgaria had gas pipe connections only to Russia (and Turkey, which, however, is not a supplier but a receiver of Russian gas through Bulgarian territory) and there was no way its neighbors could aid it in the respective situation.
The EU has promised funding for construction gas pipeline links between Bulgaria and Greece and Bulgaria and Romania as a measure designed to increase EU energy security.
The Bulgarian government has recently announce plans to establish a similar connection to Serbia.