Three out of the seven projects in the sphere of gas deliveries on the territory of Bulgaria have been coordinated with the EC, Vice President of the Commission in charge of Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said during a conference in Sofia dedicated to energy security and infrastructure in Southeast Europe. The three projects envisage building gas interconnectors with neighbouring Serbia, Greece and Romania.

Despite their importance, the projects have suffered from considerable delays. Bulgaria still has to build about 30 km. on its territory as part of the project for the link with Romania. The interconnector with Greece has not been completed yet, although it started 6 years ago. There are no working reverse gas links because of the lack of software, while such links are a requirement of the EU, energy expert Ilian Vassilev says. Construction of the gas interconnector with Serbia has just started. Some Bulgarian politicians voiced the idea that Bulgaria should create a gas hub in Varna and thus participate in the South Stream project.

The obvious discrepancy between political statements and technical capacity and skills to manage small projects put ambitious plans into question. Bulgaria wants to do grand things but we fail to make small and logical steps in that direction, Mr. Vassilev says.

Projects that require billions of financing block the use of the gas network. According to the energy expert not even a cubic meter of gas passing through the Bulgarian gas transit network comes from elsewhere but Russia, because Bulgarian transit system is blocked by exclusive contracts with Russia. The same applies to the transmission network. There have been requests for transit through Bulgarian territory but they have not been met. According to Vasilev, the amounts requested are sufficient enough to give confidence to this country that it is able to diversify gas deliveries.

He added that offers for competitive supplies made Gazprom reduce the price for Bulgaria to 213 dollars per 1000 cubic meters of gas, and commitments over the strategic Russian South Stream project were irrelevant when there was competition.

In addition to the smaller but important projects for gas connections, there are also international long-term projects of high strategic importance.

"Such are the South Stream and the Nabucco projects. I pay special attention to Nabucco because gas deliveries from this country will be also possible after the fall of sanctions. This project has already been coordinated and there are authorizations already provided, which will shorten the time needed for preparation. "

Both projects, however, are competitive and Bulgaria cannot choose whether it should seek greater independence in the supplies of gas or look towards closer ties with Russia.

During the conference, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov confirmed that work on the "South Stream" in Bulgaria continued, and Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova pointed out that the company was still paying high salaries. According to Ilian Vassilev, at this stage it was better for Russia to keep the project alive than stopping it completely.

"In order to terminate this project, the Russian side must first terminate the intergovernmental agreement, and this is a difficult decision. Gazprom has already purchased and stored pipes and contributed some 500-600 million euro to the capital of South Stream Bulgaria." A group of people receive good salaries and at political level it seems the company is preferred to be kept alive. The company must be ready in case the "Nord Stream-2" project and other strategic plans of Gazprom receive green light from Brussels. "

These strategic goals of the Russian company however cost a lot to Bulgarian taxpayers while the government does not have the will to reduce the cost. In addition to the South Stream there are ideas for building a gas hub near Varna. The project is not less risky and Prime Minister Boyko Borissov showed his support to it at the gas conference as a solution to problems between Bulgaria, Russia and the EC. The project totals some 2 billion euro and according to Vassilev it a version of the planned expansion of the gas storage facility in Chiren, which requires less than 100 million euros to be completed, but there is no financing yet.

English: Alexander Markov