Russian Black Sea Pipeline Options 'Shouldn't Be Forgotten' - BulgarianDeputy PM

Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Development Tomislav Donchev. Photo: BGNES

Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister has said alternative options to have a Russian gas pipeline build under the Black Sea should be taken into account.

"I am not referring to a continuation of halted South Stream," Donchev has made clear. South Stream is an abandoned pipeline project that was to carry gas to Central Europe under the Black Sea via Bulgaria and Serbia.

He has reasserted the country's intention to become a Balkan "gas distribution center".

In an interview for public BNT broadcaster's morning program, Donchev has explained that the difficult word "diversification" implies the existence of "at least three independent natural gas sources" and the avoidance of situations like the one in 2009, when Eastern Europe was caught in a gas crisis following a dispute between Russia and Ukraine.

His comments follow the groundbreaking ceremony of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in Thessaloniki, which he and Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova attended on Tuesday.

Donchev downplayed suggestions that TAP was an issue as "abstract" as it was to be connected with the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), which is also under construction at the moment.

He made clear Bulgaria was carrying out talks with Greece for the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal not far from the common border.

The Deputy PM added gas exploration in the Black Sea, which was about to begin soon, should be considered when thinking of the future energy mix.

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