Bulgarian Ambassador to US Not Bothered by Chevron Sponsorship

Bulgarian Ambassador to the US Elena Poptodorova. Photo by dnevnik.bg

Bulgaria's Ambassador to the US Elena Poptodorova has declared she sees nothing wrong in the fact that Chevron is among the sponsors of a reception on the occasion of Bulgaria's national day, March 3.

On Monday, the Bulgarian nationalist VMRO party expressed its outrage with the US company's sponsorship of the event scheduled to take place in Washington DC, pointing out that Chevron has been suspected of trying to make a lobbying impact on Bulgaria's political process.

In the summer of 2011, the Bulgarian cabinet granted the US energy giant a permit to explore for shale gas in a large segment of north-eastern Bulgaria. However, the permit was revoked in January following a wave of protests organized by environmentalists and citizens across the country.

Poptodorova commented that business sponsorships of such events are a common practice across the world.

"If these big companies have decided to establish long-term business relations with the country, that means Bulgaria is a good place for investments," the Bulgarian envoy told Darik radio.

On January 18, the Cabinet imposed an indefinite ban on hydraulic fracturing, a method which involves injecting a mix of water, sand and chemicals at very high pressure deep underground to crack rock and release oil and gas.

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