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Bulgaria ready for Azerbaijani gas

By M. Alkhazashvili
(Translated by Diana Dundua)
Thursday, March 13
Bulgaria is ready to buy and transit Azerbaijani natural gas, Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov said when he visited Baku to discuss deepening cooperation between the two nations on March 10–12.

“Bulgaria is ready to purchase approximately one billion cubic meters of natural gas annually and we also understand our responsibility regarding Europe’s energy supplies,” Paranov stated.

Bulgaria is slated as a transit country for the Western-backed Nabucco project, which aims to take Azerbaijani gas to Austria.

However, on January 18 Sofia signed up to the Russian-backed South Stream pipeline project, which plans to take Russian gas to Italy and Austria, causing analysts to call into question the viability of the Nabucco project as it appears to be lag behind its Russian rival.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev emphasized the increasing significance of Azerbaijan in the European energy market, and underlined Baku’s commitment to the Nabucco project when he met Paranov, according to the news agency Regnum.