Bulgaria to Get South Stream Transit Fees from 1st Day of Operation

Bulgarian Energy Minister Delyan Dobrev has assured that the country will receive transit fees for South Stream from the very launch of the facility. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria will get transit fees for every cubic meter of gas carried via the South Stream gas pipeline from the very first day of its launch, according to Delyan Dobrev, Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism.

In a Monday interview, Dobrev refuted reports released Sunday that the Bulgarian government had agreed with Russia to not receive transit fees for the first 15 months of operation of South Stream in exchange for not paying for the construction of the facility.

The South Stream gas pipeline is to transport up to 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas to central and southern Europe, diversifying Russian gas routes away from transit countries such as Ukraine.

"This project will be financed with attracted funds. The attracted funds will be paid by transit fees," the Energy Minister explained.

Dobrev refused to answer questions related to the newly expressed investor interest in Belene NPP and the forthcoming referendum on the project on the grounds that his opinion on the matter had already been made public.

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