Bulgaria Signs Gas Agreements with Azerbaijan in Bid To Diversify Supply Options

As part of the visit of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev to Bulgaria, the two sides signed a memorandum for cooperation in the energy sector between the respective ministries and a memorandum for cooperation between state-owned gas distributor Bulgartransgaz and the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), the press office of Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov said in a statement.

Under the agreed terms, Bulgaria will be able to start importing gas from Azerbaijan once it links up with the Greek and Italian transmission grids via the Interconnection Turkey-Greece-Italy (ITGI) gas pipeline.

The signed agreements create new opportunities for diversification of the natural gas supplies not only for Bulgaria but also for southeastern Europe, Parvanov was quoted as saying in the statement.

The ITGI gas pipeline is designed to link Azerbaijan and Italy and carry Azeri and Iranian gas to Europe.
     
Azeri gas supplies could also reach Bulgaria in the future through the planned Nabucco gas pipeline which has a designed capacity of 31 billion cubic meters a year. First deliveries through the Nabucco pipeline are expected in 2014 or 2015.