President Plevneliev Highlights Strategic Importance of Bulgaria-Greece Gas Grid Interconnection

According to President Rosen Plevneliev, the Bulgaria-Greece gas interconnection has become a project of strategic importance after the announcement of the Shah Deniz consortium that it had selected the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) as a route to transport gas to Europe.

On June 28, 2013, the consortium developing Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas field announced that it had selected TAP to deliver Caspian gas to Europe.

"I consider this decision as only the first stage of the construction of the Southern Gas Corridor. At the same time, I believe that the Nabucco-West project retains its strategic importance for energy diversification and for guaranteeing Europe's energy security," Plevneliev said in a media statement.

"Through the system of interconnections and gas storage facilities, this project integrates the markets of countries in southeast Europe, including the Western Balkans, Central and Western Europe," Bulgaria's head of state stated.

Plevneliev reminded that the Nabucco West gas pipeline project relied on supplies from the gas fields in the Caspian Sea, Central Asia, Iraq, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea which were undergoing exploration activities or pending exploitation.

"This is why Bulgaria, together with its partners, must keep looking for technical and investment decisions for the implementation of the project. I believe that both TAP and Nabucco West have their place on the energy map of Europe and they can be implemented," Plevneliev noted.

"The decision of the Shah Deniz consortium requires the competent authorities in Bulgaria to conduct a reassessment of the Bulgaria-Greece gas interconnection project and to adapt it to the new circumstances with a view to a link to the TAP gas pipeline in order to guarantee supplies of Caspian gas to Bulgaria and to overcome the monopoly dependence of our country on a sole supplier and a sole pipeline," Bulgaria's President declared.

Plevneliev informed that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had recently expressed readiness for supplies of 1 billion cubic meters of gas.

"This is why the gas grid interconnection is becoming a project of strategic importance for guaranteeing Bulgaria's energy diversification and it would be a good idea to start immediate talks with the Shah Deniz consortium, our Greek partners and the European Commission to secure the implementation of the project" he said.

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