BULGARIA WILL ASK EC TO UNFREEZE NABUCCO PROJECT

Bulgaria and Azerbaijan will ask the European Commission to revive plans for the Nabucco pipeline project, Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said after the meeting with the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, who was on an official visit to Bulgaria on 4th of March.

PM Borissov and President Aliyev discussed the strategic partnership within the construction of the Southern gas corridor, which will bring gas from Azerbaijan to Europe.

Bulgarian PM’s idea, fully supported by the Azeri President was Nabucco project to be revived in the stretch between the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and Nabucco West, via Bulgaria. This, according to PM Borissov, will preserve Bulgaria’s national interest.

Borissov said that together with President Aliyev and representatives of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) he would present the idea to the European Commission to revive the project. PM Borissov explained that Bulgaria was an extremely loyal EU member and implemented all legal requirements of the Third Energy Package, unlike many other countries.

He remarked that Bulgaria could not only defend the interest of EC, provided it had invested in Nabucco project for many years. He said that participation in the Southern Gas Corridor and a possibility to buy shares would give a strategic advantage to the country.

PM Borissov said that through this idea Bulgaria did not cross out the South Stream project, but up to today, there was no written notification that South Stream had been cancelled. He said that Nabucco was not and had never been an alternative to it.

President Aliyev added that Azerbaidjan was a reliable partner and had resources amounting to 2,5 trillion cubic metres of gas.

Earlier after the signing of the strategic partnership declaration, President Plevneliev said that Azerbaijan was a key partner in Bulgaria’s efforts for diversification and emphasized that Bulgaria was ready to expand the scope of the agreements reached on the supply of 1 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year.