site.btaEnergy Ministers Petkova, Novak Discuss Bulgarian-Russian Joint Projects, Russia Will Consider Bulgaria's Gas Hub Proposal

Energy Ministers Petkova, Novak Discuss Bulgarian-Russian Joint Projects, Russia Will Consider Bulgaria's Gas Hub Proposal

St Petersburg, June 20 (BTA) - Conferring within the framework
of the St Petersburg 19th International Economic Forum (SPIEF),
Energy Ministers Temenouzhka Petkova of Bulgaria and Aleksandr
Novak of Russia stressed that the Bulgarian-Russian Joint
Economic Commission is an appropriate format for discussing
current issues, Petkova's Ministry said in a press release on
Saturday.

Petkova proposed that the Bulgarian-Russian Energy Working Group
 hold its next meeting in Sofia, ahead of the session of the
Joint Commission, which is scheduled for the autumn. She
stressed that Russia remains an important energy partner of
Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian Energy Minister detailed her Russian counterpart
on the concept of setting up a natural gas hub within the
territory of Bulgaria. "Our gas hub project envisages a delivery
 point at Varna for the Russian gas and the gas coming over the
interconnectors and from the future dee-sea extraction in the
Black Sea. We have familiarized the European Commission with the
 concept, and its projects are included in the ten-year
development plan of the European Network of Transmission System
Operators for Gas (ENTSOG). The next stage of this process
involves an analysis of the gas hub project's impact on
neighbouring countries that ENTSOG is supposed to carry out.
This will make it possible to designate it as a project of
common interest," Petkova said.

In her words, the advantages of the project consist in
Bulgaria's strategic location, its ramified gas transmission
network and the forthcoming expansion and modernization of that
network. According to Petkov, the Bulgarian gas hub will make it
 effectively possible to move natural gas from Russia to Central
 Europe.

Novak said that Russia will consider Bulgaria's gas hub
establishment concept. Details will be discussed at the
forthcoming meeting of the Energy Working Group in Sofia.

At the meeting, the Russian side asked whether Bulgaria's
position regarding the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis project remains
unchanged. Petkova answered that a possibility to revive the
project has not been considered at this point.