Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova has voiced her hope that the construction of an interconnector with Romania will be complete by the end of 2016, becoming the country's first gas link with a neighboring state.

At an energy conference dedicated to energy security in Southeast Europe, Petkova has underlined that the government must work hard toward building all interconnections linking the gas transit networks of Bulgaria with thouse of neighboring countries.

The interconnection between Bulgaria and Romania has suffered months-long delays, with both sides citing technical difficulties.

"Our government, the Bulgarian Parliament and the energy regulator work hand in hand for the [energy] diversification to become reality," specialized energy website 3e-news.net quotes her as saying.

She has stressed the need for Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) to be carried through, bringing the second stage of the market test to a success and enabling construction in a matter of months.

The interconnectors will allow Bulgaria to have "other sources" of gas apart from Russia, Petkova has added. 

In July, Petkova said the link with Romania would be ready by the end of the year, with bidirectional gas flows to be tested afterwards between the two countries and Ukraine.