Bulgaria to receive natural gas from Cyprus, but only after the construction of a gas terminal in Greece

Bulgaria will be able to receive liquefied natural gas from deposits in Cyprus, but only after the construction of a gas terminal on the Greek coast. The news was released after the meeting of Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism, Traicho Traikov, and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus Dr Erato - Kozakou Marcoullis, who was on an official visit to Sofia. They discussed options for cooperation in the energy field. Minister Traikov presented the development of the project for the construction of a gas connection between the towns of Stara Zagora and Komotini. His Cypriot counterpart provided details on the study of an American company on the potential for production of natural gas in the shelf of the Mediterranean Sea. According to preliminary data, there are about 9 trillion cu m of natural gas in the sea around Cyprus. “If these results are confirmed, Cyprus will be able to export natural gas,” announced Minister Kozakou Marcoullis. This will provide an opportunity for the diversification of supply in the South Gas Corridor. Sources of gas will not be found in Asia alone, but in the new European deposits as well.

Meanwhile, experts and environmentalists held a heated debate yesterday about the benefits and dangers in the extraction of shale gas in the country. "Bulgaria must investigate what kind of deposits of shale gas it has, but if it comes down to extraction, this will boost the entire economy and will make Bulgaria energy independent," said Dimitar Ivanov, Chairman of the Centre for Study of the Balkans and the Black Sea Region. According to him, it is a criminal act not to explore the potential of Bulgaria for production of shale gas, while paying a high price for imported natural gas because of the monopoly position of Gazprom in terms of the gas supply to our country.

"Energy independence cannot be based on finite resources and soil pollution,” argued Borislav Sandov from the Greens party. According to him, the diversification must be achieved by using connections for liquefied gas with neighbouring countries and the development of renewable energy sources.

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