Bulgaria and Romania have planned the project for the construction of an inter-system link for the transfer of natural gas in the section Ruse-Giurgiu.

This was stated during the "Energy without frontiers" conference in Sofia on Tuesday.

Bulgarian state owned company "Bulgartransgaz" and Romanian Transgaz are ready with the "road map" for the project and have decided to carry it out faster than previously announced.

Bulgaria sees this inter-system link as an opportunity to diversify its natural gas sources.

The project must enter its investment phase by the end of 2010, as both sides will make use of the opportunity to use partial financing from the European funds for the construction of the link.

EU has planned a total of EUR 8.9 M within its European Energy Program for Recovery for the project. A further EUR 11 M has to be invested by "Bulgartransgaz".

The linked is designed to be 23.8 km long and to have a maximum capacity of 1.5 B cubic meters of natural gas each year.