|
|
Sign up for our newsletter to receive the latest news and information from publics.bg
News
From Bulgaria
20.02.2014 17:07
© CIA Factbook
Talks on two large-scale energy projects that Bulgaria has shelved, are on their way to be restarted. Even though Bulgaria left the oil pipeline project Burgas – Alexandroupoli, developed together with Greece and Russia, Moscow has implied that the project could be rekindled. Another project which involves the Russian side - Bulgaria’s planned second nuclear power plant at Belene - put on hold indefinitely in 2012, is also on the verge to be revived, Sega Daily wrote. The possibility of Belene's revival without explicit governmental support has been cited among the reasons of a recent S&P downgrade of the outlook of Bulgaria's state-owned National Electricity Company entitled to manage the project.
The oil pipeline topic was discussed yesterday by Russian energy minister Alexander Novak in a statement for ITAR-TASS. In his words Burgas-Alexandroupoli would be the subject of a Bulgarian-Russian intergovernmental commission sitting planned for April 7 – 8. Novak said that the intergovernmental agreement for the pipeline signed by Bulgaria, Greece and Russia is still in force, despite Bulgaria’s exit declaration.
“The agreement does not allow for a unilateral exit. However we have not reached a consensus on the matter”, Novak told ITAR-TASS.
The Russian news agency has also published an interview with Lachezar Kostov, chief of the Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA), who stated that the Agency is prepared to approve the project for the construction of Belene NPP. Kostov however dismissed the option for construction works to kick off in 2016 as “unrealistic”.
“We are far away from approving the technical project. Our experience with Belene shows that this process could take eight years”, Kostov told ITAR-TASS.
All news from Bulgaria
Interview 
Full text
Events 
