Bulgaria has received no notice of termination for the South Stream gas pipeline project so far, according to Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova.

In a Saturday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio she said that the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, which was proposed as an alternative to South Stream, would be costlier due to the re-routing.

“I think it is too early to speak of the so-called Turkish Stream project, taking into account that Bulgaria has so far received no official written statement from Gazprom about what is happening to the South Stream project. As you know, we have a joint venture, South Stream – Bulgaria, whose shareholders are the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) and Gazprom. This joint venture continues to exist and it has financial resources,” Petkova declared.

She argued that Bulgaria could not achieve independence of energy supplies without the gas grid interconnectors with Greece and Romania.

Bulgaria’s Energy Minister informed that she had agreed with her Romanian counterpart that the pipeline connecting the gas grids of the two countries would be completed by end-2015.

She said that the Bulgaria-Romania gas grid interconnector was the one which had reached the most advanced stage of implementation.

Petkova explained, however, that a breakdown which had occurred a few years ago had not yet been eliminated.

She said that the state-owned gas transmission operators of Bulgaria and Romania, Bulgartransgaz and Transgaz, has launched public procurement procedures to select contractors to remove the breakdown.

Petkova underscored that the Bulgaria-Romania gas grid interconnector would only carry gas Bulgaria to Romania because in order to have a reverse-flow pipeline connection it would be necessary to build a compressor station in Romania.

“I was assured by my Romanian counterpart that the construction of the compressor station had been included in the investment program of Transgaz and it would be a fact by end-2017,” she noted.

She said that the Bulgaria-Greece gas grid interconnector was also essential for the diversification of gas supply sources and routes, adding that construction works were to start by mid-March 2016 and the project was to be completed in mid-2018.

Petkova also made clear that the Bulgaria-Turkey gas grid interconnector project was also moving forward.