Bulgarian Minister: We Will Receive South Stream Fees

Bulgarian Energy Minister Delyan Dobrev has rejected claims that his country will not receive any transit fees for its role in the South Stream project, saying it will receive fees from the first day of operations.

The Minister was speaking in response to media claims which said that Bulgaria would not receive transit fees for being a route country for the South Stream pipeline for 15 years (up until 2030). Media reports published over the weekend said the country had agreed not to take any transit fees in return for not paying for the construction of the Bulgarian leg of the pipeline.

The report, published by Bulgarian news outlet mediapool.bg, said that the transit fees would be waived as part of an agreement to be signed between Bulgaria and South Stream next month. The news site referenced unnamed sources close to the talks.

However, Minister Dobrev said on Monday that this was not the case and said that the country would be paid in full from the launch of the pipeline in 2015.

"This project will be financed with attracted funds," the Noinvite (Sofia) News Agency reports him as saying. "The attracted funds will be paid by transit fees."