Tough talks are ahead as the thirteenth meeting of the Bulgarian-Russian Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation starts its discussions on Thursday.

Energy deals with Russia, which the Bulgarian government has started to revise, casting doubt on their future, will top the agenda of the meetings, which will be held under the presidency of Bulgarian Economy, Energy and Tourism Minister Traicho Traikov and Russian Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko.

Shmatko is heading to Sofia for talks on the USD 1 B Burgas–Alexandroupolis oil pipeline and Russia’s two other energy projects in the country - the construction of a nuclear power station and a stretch of the South Stream natural gas pipeline.

After it took office in July 2009, Bulgaria's new center-right government of the GERB party made it clear it was going to reconsider the country's participation in the three large-scale energy projects - South Stream gas pipeline, Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, and Belene Nuclear Power Plant.

According to the Russian minister talks on the South Stream continue on the corporate level while details about the nuclear power plant require clarification, but these deals carry little risk of falling through.

The Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline is a joint Russian, Greek and Bulgarian project to pump Russian and Caspian oil from the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas to the Greek Aegean port of Alexandroupolis, which would create an alternative to tanker shipments through Turkey’s crowded Bosporus Straits.

Once completed, the pipeline will carry 35 million metric tons of oil a year, a volume that could eventually be increased to 50 million metric tons. Under an intergovernmental agreement signed in 2007 after seven years of talks, Russia holds 51 % in the project company, while Greece and Bulgaria hold 24.5 % each.

Bulgaria is not only pressing for more environmental precautions, but also is critical of its potential profits from the project.

As for the multi-billion nuclear project in the Bulgarian Danube town of Belene, which has stalled over funding problems, the cabinet of the center-right GERB party has said it is not willing to provide any state guarantees for loans and is yet to decide whether to scrap or push ahead due to purely economic terms.

The previous cabinet started talks with the Russian government on a EUR 3,8 B state loan for the project and offered guarantees for it.

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