The natural gas interconnection pipeline between Bulgaria and Turkey, which is to allow the former to receive gas supplies from Azerbaijan, will be completed by 2014.

This has been promised by Bulgarian Economy, Energy, and Tourism Minister Delyan Dobrev, who spoke on BNR Saturday, after returning Friday from a state visit in Azerbaijan together with Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov.

"We took an important step forward with the signing of a memorandum between the Bulgarian Energy Holding and the state company of Azerbaijan SOCAR, committing them to cooperate in order to realize the first Azerbaijani gas supplies to Bulgaria in 2014," Dobrev declared.

He noted the Bulgaria-Turkey gas interconnection will be crucial in that respect, and praised the results of the Bulgarian government's visit in Azerbaijan.

"We discussed with the Azerbaijani energy minister all possible routes, including which will be the pipeline that will transit large quantities of natural gas from Azerbaijan as of 2018 because this is still unclear," Dobrev added, apparently referring to the uncertain fate of the Nabucco gas pipeline project.

He did say there will be Southern Gas / Energy Corridor for Europe but noted that its route and concept are still unclear.

"We must succeed to build this interconnecting pipeline with Turkey because we can get no gas supplies without it. Prime Minister Borisov will seek assistance for it from the EU Council of Ministers because it can lead to diversification of supplies for Europe," Dobrev argued.

Earlier this week, one of the six shareholders in Nabucco, Hungarian company MOL, said it wanted to sell its share, raising doubts about the future of the EU-sponsored project.

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