SOFIA (Bulgaria), December 2 (SeeNews) – Bulgaria cannot receive compensations from the EU for the cancellation of the South Stream gas pipeline project but can rely on EU funds for one or more gas interconnectors, the country's deputy prime minister in charge of EU funds said on Tuesday.
The South Stream project, spearheaded by Russia's Gazprom, was planned to carry gas from Russia to central and southern Europe via Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia.
Late on Monday, Russian president Vladimir Putin said the construction of the pipeline's offshore part cannot start as Bulgaria has not given its permission and Russia has been forced to reconsider its participation in the project.
"During a conversation with [European Commission vice president in charge of the energy union] [Maros] Sefcovic, I was reassured that in view of the significance of the security of gas supplies, Bulgaria can in the short term rely on assistance in the construction of an alternative route for gas supplies from Greece, including financing of an interconnector or interconnectors," Tomislav Donchev told a news conference. An audio file with Donchev's responses to journalist questions was posted on the website of the state-run Bulgarian National Radio.
"[...] I explicitly explained that such a move, such assistance on the part of the EU, could in no way be considered as an alternative to South Stream," Donchev said. "It can only be a first step but not an alternative."
In June, the Bulgarian government said it halted the construction of the gas pipeline on its territory until it complies with EU legislation.
The total value of the project was estimated at 16 billion euro ($19.9 billion).
Commercial operation of South Stream was scheduled to start by the end of 2015 with the pipeline reaching its full capacity of some 63 billion cubic metres per year by 2017.
Bulgaria imports almost all the natural gas it needs from Russia through a pipeline crossing the territories of Ukraine, Moldova and Romania.
($=0.8026 euro)