GAS INTERCONNECTION BULGARIA -TURKEY IN 2 YEARS

The gas interconnection Bulgaria -Turkey will be constructed within 2 years. This was agreed today between the Bulgarian energy minister, Dragomir Stoynev and his Turkish counterpart, Taner Yildiz at a meeting in Sofia. An agreement for the project implementation will be signed in March 2014. The construction of the facility on Bulgarian territory will be implemented by ‘Bulgartransgaz EAD’.

According to previous assessments made by ‘Bulgartransgaz EAD’, the construction of 75 km long gas pipeline on Bulgarian territory will cost approximately 75 million Euros. The pipeline length in Turkey will be 114 km.

Connecting the gas network of Bulgaria with Turkey, Romania and Serbia was regarded as urgent by the government of the right-wing GERB party, since in January 2009 the gas supply of natural gas to Bulgaria was disconnected due to disputes between Russia and Ukraine.

The construction of the gas interconnection with Romania started in the middle of august 2012 and is expected to be completed this year. The interconnection Bulgaria-Serbia is foreseen to get operational by 2017 at the latest.