September 27 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria plans to cut natural gas imports from Russia to 50% of its annual consumption within five years to ensure energy bottlenecks do not hold back economic growth, the country's president said for Bloomberg.
Bulgaria, which gets 87% of its gas from Russia, is seeking to link with the planned Trans-Adriatic Pipeline that will ship 10 billion cubic metres of gas a year to Italy from Turkey, Bulgarian president Rosen Plevneliev said in an interview for Bloomberg on Thursday.
“In five years’ time, we’d like to see at least 50 percent of the gas consumption in Bulgaria coming from different and diversified sources,” Plevneliev said, adding that a 2009 dispute between Ukraine and Russia that cut flows to Bulgaria for two weeks highlighted the need for greater independence.