Bulgaria announces gas link deal with Greece & Romania

Baku, April 23, AZERTAC Bulgaria took a step by agreeing to build a link to natural gas grids in neighboring Romania and Greece. The new link agreed between Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, known as a vertical gas corridor, will cost about €220 million and become operational in 2018, said Bulgaria’s Deputy Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov. Through the link, Bulgaria will be able to buy gas from Azerbaijan and from Greece’s liquefied natural gas terminals, he said. The agreement, signed by energy officials from the three countries in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, comes as the European Union on Wednesday. Bulgaria is also seeking to ramp up its own production of natural gas. Last week, it launched a tender process for deep water gas and oil exploration off its Black Sea coastline, the deputy minister said. Bulgarian government officials said in February that they are in talks with Royal Dutch Shell PLC, BP PLC, Statoil ASA and other oil companies for the exploration of Bulgaria’s Teres and Silistar oil and gas blocks.