Bulgaria's Gas Link with Romania to Be Ready by End-May 2013

Bulgaria's 25-km gas interconnector with Romania will be completed and functional by the end of May 2013, according to Kiril Temelkov, CEO of the Bulgartransgaz energy company.

The construction of Bulgaria's cross-border gas link with its northern neighbor was launched last week.

Romania's gas system is not only connected with Russia, but also with Hungary, Temelkov pointed out in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio.

Thus, Bulgaria will be able to make use of new sources of gas, he explained.

Bulgaria moved to link its natural gas grid to that of its neighbors after the January 2009 gas war between Russia and Ukraine, which cut off the Russian gas supplies to Bulgaria for full three weeks leaving it without natural gas in the middle of the winter.

Bulgaria also plans to build gas links with three other neighbors – Turkey, Greece and Serbia – in a bid to diversify its energy supplies.