Bulgaria Promises Transparency in South Stream Dealings

Bulgaria has pledged to make publicly disclose final contractual arrangements it undertakes on the South Stream pipeline.

Speaking Sunday on the Bulgarian National Radio, Energy Minister Dragomir Stoynev said that arrangements with Russia’s Gazprom would be fully disclosed, although at this stage, final documentation was not completed.

"The contract will be signed once the public procurement procedure for a contractor is complete," said Stoynev.

"At this point we only signed preliminary agreements - one of them being for the financing of the project - that we requested before any start of work on the project," the Minister continued.

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev had commented on the need for transparency for the project following the visit of Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller to attend a ceremonial welding of the first joint of the pipe that marked the launch of South Stream in Bulgaria.

While acknowledging that "in contracts of this kind there is also an ingredient of corporate secret," Stoynev stressed that Bulgaria had negotiated very favorable conditions and would start receiving dividends from the pipeline in the first year of operations.

Earlier Stoynex said the project will not be funded by Bulgarian taxpayers and the country will not make any financial commitments.  The Minister said that he expected approximately BGN 5 B to enter the budget in the form of taxes and social security.

Separately, Bulgaria's Minister of Environment and Water said that proper observation of procedures outlined in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) would ensure that South Stream gas pipeline will not cause any environmental damage.

Iskra Mihaylova said that the EIA of the land section of the gas pipeline was complete, while a second EIA report on the underwater section traversing and existing the Black Sea was not yet prepared.