Russia delays agreement on cheaper gas supplies to Bulgaria on South Stream.

By bne IntelliNews June 5, 2012
Bulgaria and Russia have recently agreed on an 11.1% cut in the price of natural gas Russia supplies to Bulgaria but the final agreement has not been signed yet by the Russian side due to a set of new clauses connected with the implementation of the South Stream Project, Bulgarias energy minister Delyan Dobrev told Darik radio in an interview. The minister assured that the 11% discount entered into force in April but now Russia demands the signing of the gas discount papers to be linked with Bulgarias commitment to make a final investment decision on South Stream by November 15. During the talks we pledged to sign an agreement on making a final investment decision. However, now new parameters to the deal have emerged concerning the financial model of the project and we cannot sign them in rush since we need to make sure that the national interests are protected in the best possible way, Dobrev said. Meanwhile Russias President Vladimir Putin said on June 4 the construction of the South Stream pipeline will start by the end of 2012. The pipeline is to deliver 63bn cubic meters of Russian gas annually to south and central Europe, diversifying Russias gas routes away from transit countries such as Ukraine.

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