Gazprom yields in Bulgaria, agreed to let other suppliers join South Stream
Gazprom has officially started to construct the surface part of the South Stream gas pipeline at the most difficult Bulgarian section. The monopoly had to allow a gas discount to Bulgaria and to make serious concessions under the terms of the loan granted. Moreover, access of other suppliers to South Stream were included into the agreement with Bulgaria, on which the European Union insisted and that wasn’t done by Gazprom previously. But against the background of exacerbation of relations between Russia and the Ukraine, the importance of the South Stream success increases.
Yesterday, Gazprom started to construct the most lengthy and difficult section of the South Stream gas pipeline in the territory of Bulgaria. Sofia was one of the first that signed the intergovernmental agreement on the gas pipeline in 2008, but then negotiations on the Bulgarian site at 540 km long became the most complicated for Gazprom.