Russia, Bulgaria 'Appear' to Make Progress on South Stream
Russia and Bulgaria have agreed to set up a joint venture next month to build the Bulgarian part of the Russian-led natural gas pipeline South Stream, Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller said following his talks with Bulgarian Prime Minister in Sofia on Friday
Miller hailed the "serious progress" made during separate meetings – one with Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov and another with Prime Minister Boiko Borissov and Turkish ambassador in Sofia Mehmet Gücük. He said that the joint company that would operate the Bulgaria stretch of the pipeline would be set up in November.
He declined to give more details on other topic discussed during the meetings, with the issue of gas prices expected, prior to the meeting, to have been on the agenda.
Miller's short statement to reporters outside the Economy Ministry was the only comment on the proceedings, with both the Economy Ministry and the Government press service releasing no statements on the meetings earlier in the day.
Miller arrived in Sofia from Romania, where he tried to advance negotiations concerning Romania joining the South Stream gas pipeline and signed a memorandum providing for feasibility studies that would assess whether it made sense financially to include Romania in the project.
It has been widely speculated that Russia was using discussions with Romania as a thinly veiled threat to Bulgaria to move South Stream forward. The Bulgarians are thought to be dragging their heels to gain further concessions.
But Gazprom said in a separate statement on its website that Miller secured agreement on "speeding up work and signing next week an agreement on carrying out the feasibility study for the Bulgarian stretch of the pipeline and establishing a joint venture." Setting up the joint venture in November was "significantly earlier than planned".