The CEO of Russian natural gas giant Gazprom, Alexei Miller, is arriving in Sofia Wednesday.

The news was reported by the largest, private TV channel bTV, informing that the talks will focus on two issues – price of natural gas for Bulgaria and the future of the gas pipeline "South Stream."

Bulgaria's cabinet is expecting to secure lower gas prices, similarly to France, Germany, Slovakia, and Turkey.

bTV cites own sources, saying that the price can go down through negotiating the formula used to determine it.

According to Financial Times, quoting one of the Gazprom Directors, Alexander Medvedev, prices of Russian gas for the EU can go down as much as 10% on average.

The South Stream pipeline is to carry up to 63 billion cubic meters of gas to central and southern Europe.

The project aims to diversify supply routes for Russian gas by circumventing transit countries such as Ukraine.

Shareholders in the project are Gazprom (50%), Eni (Italy, 20%), Wintershall (Germany, 15%) and EdF (France, 15%).

Russia has signed agreements for the construction of the gas conduit with Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria.

Construction works have been scheduled to start in December 2012, and not 2013 as previously planned.

The South Stream gas pipeline is to be launched in December 2015 and is expected to reach full capacity in 2018.

The total cost of the project is currently estimated at around EUR 15.5 B.

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