Bulgaria Needs 'Direct' Russian Imports: Press
Bulgaria's president Rumen Radev has told Russian news agency Kommersant that the country needs gas imports directly from Russia. He favourably compared a subsea line from Russia to Bulgaria with Nord Stream 2, that when built will link Russia with Germany without transit countries.
Radev was due to meet the newly-reappointed Russian prime minister Dmitri Medvedev in Moscow May 21 and to meet the president Vladimir Putin in Sochi the next day – the first presidential meeting between the two countries in ten years, Kommersant pointed out.
Radev said in the interview that Bulgaria needs direct gas imports from Russia across the Black Sea: "We will call this Bulgarian Stream. This approach is only common sense and meets the needs of energy security and efficiency and not only for Bulgaria but the EU as a whole. These concerns are exactly the same as Germany’s plans to realise Nord Stream 2."
The alternative route would be a spur line onshore from TurkStream 2, which would make Bulgaria dependent on a non-European Union member state for its gas imports. TurkStream 1 will land in northwestern Turkey. Offshore work on both TurkStream 1 and 2 is advanced.
An international consortium linking Greek gas supplier Depa, French-owned Edison and Gazprom has been for some time considering an offshore line from Russia to Europe by way of either Turkey or directly by way of another country, which they have not named directly.
Edison's midstream gas head, Pierre Vergerio, told NGW mid-May that he was looking at a 20bn m³/yr line, of which half the supply would come from Russia and the other half from the eastern Mediterranean, such as Egyptian LNG.
Edison is also involved in Interconnector Greece Bulgaria, which will carry between 3bn m³/yr and 5bn m³/yr, via its joint venture IGI Poseidon, of which it owns half, the other half belonging to Depa. IGI Poseidon owns half the IGB project, the other half being Bulgarian.
Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Bulgaria's energy minister Temenuzhka Petkova met in Moscow on May 15 during which Miller updated her on TurkStream's progress. Gazprom also said its exports to Bulgaria reached 3.3bn m3 in 2017, compared with 3.2bn m3 the previous year. Gazprom said that Petkova, in turn, spoke about development plans for the Bulgarian gas transmission system.