PM: BULGARIA HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE GAS DISTRIBUTION CENTRE OF SEE, EU

At the initiative of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, Bulgarian capital city Sofia hosted a sitting of a summit Group on the construction of gas connections in Central and Southeast Europe, which will work on the most important projects for diversification of the natural gas deliveries.

This is the first sitting of the Group. The event was attended by European Commission Vice President and Commissioner for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic; European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete; representatives of the countries in Central and Southeast Europe. 

Bulgaria, on the other hand, was represented by Deputy Prime Minister for EU Funds and Economic Policies Tomislav Donchev; Minister of Energy Temenuzhka Petkova; Deputy Minister of Energy Anton Pavlov. 

The major topics tabled for discussion in the frames of the sitting included the energy challenges before Bulgaria, the development of the gas infrastructure in Central and Southeast Europe and the security of the deliveries to the European Union (EU).

The Group assigned the task to evaluate whether and how the establishment of a gas hub in Bulgaria will help to achieve the goals of the European energy union. 

The idea for the establishment of such group was agreed by the energy ministers of the EU member states that were affected by the suspension of the South Stream gas pipeline project during a meeting with EC Vice President Sefcovic in Brussels.

Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov presented the idea of turning Bulgaria into a gas distribution centre for the EU member states and the European energy community before the European Commission (EC). EC President Jean-Claude Juncker, as well as Vice President Sefcovic, expressed strong support for the establishment of gas hubs, which to play an important role in the development of the regional energy markets.

"Bulgaria is one of the EU countries that are seriously interested in the security of the energy deliveries and the diversification of the sources. That is why our government is actively working on the realisation of key projects that will allow us have access to safe gas deliveries at competitive prices," Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said at the opening of the first sitting of the summit group on the construction of gas connections in Central and Southeast Europe, the press office of the Bulgarian Government announced. 

In his address Prime Minister Borisov remarked that Bulgaria's goals were in line with those of the European Energy Union.

"In the winter of 2008 Bulgaria was the worst affected country when Russia cut the gas deliveries to Europe through Ukraine. 

Since then the Bulgarian state has been determined not to allow such a risk again. The Bulgarian government considers a priority the construction of interconnectors with our neighbours Greece, Romania, Turkey and Serbia, as well as the development of our own gas fields in the Black Sea shelf," the Prime Minster said further.

Mr Borisov remarked that every project should be examined in line with the European legislation because it guaranteed the competitive power, low prices for end-consumers and security of the deliveries. 

PM Boyko Borisov commented further that thanks to its geographic location Bulgaria had the potential to be a distribution centre for Southeast Europe and the EU. 

"We have a well-designed national gas distribution network, a gas depot and own gas and oil reserves, which are being developed at the moment. 

These are just some of the advantages and opportunities Bulgaria offers," Mr Borisov pointed out.
"European countries should show that they can work together for better connectivity among each other". This is what European Commission Vice President and Commissioner for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said speaking at the sitting.

European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete, on the other hand, stressed that the development of the Southern Gas Corridor and the connectivity with Europe had key role for achieving independence of the region, as well as the development of the local gas fields in the Black Sea and the development of liquefied petroleum gas terminals. 

Bulgaria, Greece and Romania reached an agreement for the summit group to have another sub-group, which to deal with the construction of vertical gas corridor. 

Bulgarian Minister of Energy Temenuzhka Petkova invited the representatives of Romani, Greece and Hungary to the first meeting on the vertical gas corridor, which will be held in Bulgaria in the end of March. Hungary is expected to announce its official position on whether it will take part in the sub-group.

"All countries that are part of the Central and Southeastern Europe must have at least three gas sources," the European Commission Vice President said. 

"I want at first place to thank Mr Boyko Borisov that you hosted that important event and last December we decided on the establishment of that summit group. The situation we face with is very serious indeed and we have to find important decisions in order to secure gas supplies to Bulgaria. We are very pleased with the fact that we managed to form that group during the Christmas Holidays. The working group will work at expert level, not only at political," Maros Sefcovic said. 
In his words experts will work on energy issues. "The most important decision is that all countries in

Central and Southeastern Europe must have at least 3 gas sources. We also made a flash review of the most important priorities in the energy sector which will be co-funded by the EU. Our experts will immediately take up with working out a plan which will be discussed in June. Last but not least we gathered to show our mutual solidarity. We are going to undertake steps to secure energy security, to build a stable European Energy Union," Maros Sefcovic said further.

The gas hub is a mechanism for strengthening the security of the natural gas supplies to Europe, which is main objective of the European Energy Union for consolidation of EU and economy partners' abilities to negotiate with foreign gas suppliers. These emerged from the presentation made by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, during the sitting of a summit Group on the construction of gas connections in Central and Southeast Europe. 

It stated further that this is a key project in building single European Energy Market for overcoming energy dependency of the Southeastern Europe, for liberalization, for setting competitive gas market for meeting the EU legislation, as well as for improving the cross-border network. 

The presentation states that the construction of gas infrastructure provides Member States with natural gas at a competitive price, which is energy-efficient, environmentally friendly energy source and this will lead to increased energy efficiency. Energy Union should be designed to maximize the benefits of energy efficiency and meeting the consumption. In addition to energy efficiency, gas infrastructure allows reducing harmful gas emissions compared to those generated by thermal power plants, the presentation states further. It also says that Bulgaria has met its targets for renewable energy sector, and that the modernization of the gas transmission network will allow the use of innovative technologies, moving to automatic control mode and balancing the gas transmission system.