Bulgaria will sign agreements on "South Stream" and the supply of gas simultaneously

Bulgarian Government has officially tied construction ofgas pipeline "South Stream" on Bulgarian territory with prices in the new agreement on the supply of natural gas from Russia.

On November 7 the government has empowered the Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism Delyan Dobrev to give Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD authorization to sign the final investment decision on the "South Stream", subject to agreeing acceptable price on gas.

At talks in Moscow, Bulgaria has received Gazprom’s consent for 11% discount on gas, provided that Bulgarian side will accelerate work on the pipeline project. The decision is still not in force, but it was agreed that the discount will come into force by back date from April 1 to the end of 2012. In addition, the parties are holing talks on new long-term contracts on gas supplies to Bulgaria, since existing contracts end in December 2012.

Two days before the signing of the contracts senior government source told the press that the parties still had not agreed on the price at which Bulgaria would receive gas beginning with January 1.

It is expected that both documents will be signed on November 9 at Sofia.

President of Russian Federation Vladimir Putin was supposed to come to Sophia on November 9 to sign the agreement, but his visit was postponed.

According to Delyan Dobrev, the final investment decision on the construction of "South Stream" gas pipeline was switched from November 9 to next Wednesday or Thursday, because of the national mourning in memory of Patriarch Maxim.

English Translation by BSN

Adapted from: Bolgarskie Novosti po russki