Bulgaria begins construction of gas pipeline to Romania
Bulgaria has started construction works on the gas pipeline that will link the country’s gas distribution network to that of neighbouring Romania, with Prime Minister Boiko Borissov and Economy Minister Delyan Dobrev attending the first-sod ceremony in Rousse on August 16.
The much-delayed interconnection pipeline, first proposed in 2009 following the month-long stoppage of natural gas deliveries from Russia in the dead of winter because of a pricing row between Moscow and Kyiv, will have an annual capacity of 1.5 billion cubic metres, more than a third of Bulgaria’s annual gas consumption.
Construction on the Bulgarian end is expected to be completed by the end of the year, with the pipeline becoming operational in May 2013.
The pipeline will have a length of about 25km, including 15.4km on the Bulgarian shore and two kilometres under the Danube River. The project’s cost is 24 million euro, including nine million euro granted by the European Commission. Of the seven million euro that Bulgaria will spend on building the pipeline, 4.4 million euro are also EU funds.
(Photo: jarpur/sxc.hu)
