site.btaEC: Russia May Be One of Sources of Gas to Bulgaria Gas Hub

Brussels, May 31 (BTA correspondent Nickolay Jeliazkov) - A European Commission (EC) spokesman said Thursday that Russia may be one of the sources of gas to a planned Bulgarian gas hub. "The internal market requires that a gas hub concept requires liquid market and third party access to all pipelines. Therefore, Russian gas may be one of the sources to bring gas to Bulgaria but it is not the only source that is being considered at the moment," European Commission Spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said at a news conference in Brussels as she took a reporter's question about the planned gas hub near the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Varna.

"We are fully committed to supporting Bulgaria in the implementation of its plan for a regional gas hub. We are fully aware and understand that the gas supplies to the region are of utmost importance to Bulgaria, and we support these ambitions," she said. She recalled that this has already been declared by EC President Jean-Claude Juncker the last time he had a press conference with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov in Sofia in January. "On this project we are fully on the same avenue as the Bulgarian government," she added.

She recalled that a feasibility study on the sources of gas to the hub is still underway.