Bulgaria Says January Start-Up for Nabucco
Bulgaria is seeking to begin the construction of the Nabucco pipeline in January this year, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has said.
Following a meeting with the European Council in Brussels, the prime minister said that, as Nabucco was an important gas source for Bulgaria, the country could start its construction from around the 10th of January 2013.
"Nabucco is a priority because we have a new source [of natural gas]," the BNT news agency reports him as saying. "In this case, that is Azerbaijan... We told the EC that we can start the construction of Nabucco from Bulgaria's territory."
Bulgaria is one of six countries involved in the Nabucco West project, acting as one of the route countries for the pipeline. Additionally, Bulgarian gas company Bulgargaz is one of six companies, each with a 16.67 per cent stake, developing the pipeline.
In May this year, the Bulgarian government officially lent its support to the Nabucco project, with a formal backing of an agreement to transport gas from Azerbaijan to the rest of Europe.