Bulgaria and Russia getting closer to constructing South Stream pipeline

Through South Stream are planned to flow 63 billion cubic metres gas annually, 17 billion cubic metres of which will be delivered by the Bulgarian pipes. The remaining 46 billion cubic metres will be transported in the direction east-west by newly constructed pipes, which will be part of South Stream and will be 50 per cent Bulgarian property, Traykov said.

Bulgaria will not only not lose from transit taxes by using the currently existing local pipes, but will even seen an augmentation the country’s profit, the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism said in a media statement. Currently, those pipes transport 17 billion cubic metres of gas to Greece and Turkey.

The Bulgarian and the Russian parties are currently actively working on the route map for South Stream, which will be further discussed on 16 July in the biggest Bulgarian Black Sea city, Varna, by Traykov and Alexander Medvedev, deputy chairperson of Gazprom’s management board. The document is to describe in detail the steps for starting the project’s realisation on Bulgarian territory. Before 16 July, the two parties are to discuss at an expert level the details concerning the South Stream route map.

According to Traykov, Bulgaria and Russia have a common interest in the project’s realisation. Russia would benefit from South Stream being constructed and passing through Bulgaria because this was economically and strategically the most expedient route, he said. Bulgaria’s interest is connected to energy security and to receiving transit taxes. According to Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, the income for Bulgaria from gas transit could be expected to double or triple.

Our country has always underlined that the pipeline is important for us and the government is actively working on its construction, Traykov further said.

Borisov confirmed information that the country would remain the owner of the old pipelines and would own 50 per cent of the new gas pipelines from the South Stream project, following his meeting with the Russian Deputy Premier Viktor Zubkov on 5 July in Sofia.

“We will continue our participation in Nabucco, so we will start receiving transit taxes from the project which can start off operations,” Borisov said.

Meanwhile, Zubkov called on the Bulgarian side to speed up administrative procedures concerning South Stream because, according to him, they were delaying the project’s development in Bulgaria.

Within a month, it is expected that Bulgaria and Russia will sign a memorandum to establish a project company that will be responsible for the pipe projecting at Bulgarian territory. A similar company was established in Greece at the end of June 2010.

“Transit to Greece and Turkey will be done via the old pipes, while the new ones will go to Serbia and Austria,” Borisov said. Russia’s partner in the project will remain the Bulgarian state company Bulgartransgaz.

A Bulgarian delegation travelled to Moscow on 8 July to set out the exact conditions for South Stream's construction, Bulgarian-language daily Dnevnik reported.

South Stream natural gas pipeline is expected to be completed in 2015.