Bulgaria and Turkey sign gas pipeline deal

Energy security was a main topic as the prime ministers of Bulgaria and Turkey met in the Turkish capital Ankara, Trend  cites Euronews as saying.

Boyko Borisov and Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed around 20 agreements, including cultural exchanges, the setting up of a ferry route between their two counties and cooperation over natural disasters - particularly flooding.

They also agreed to connect the two countries' domestic gas networks.

A pipeline running around 80 kilometres could then be used to transfer natural gas coming originally from Azerbaijan, via Turkey, to Bulgaria.

It is known that the Bulgarian government is keen to reduce its energy dependence on Russia but officially this pipeline connection would be used only in case of emergencies.

According to the diplomatic source quoted by Hurriyet Daily News, Bulgaria has already reached a preliminary agreement with Azerbaijan to buy at least one billion cubic meters of gas annually.

Azerbaijan and Turkey are currently considering the construction of the pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border - Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP). It is expected that the initial capacity of a pipeline will be 16 billion cubic metres per year. Some 6 billion cubic meters of the volume will be allocated to Turkey, while the rest will be transported to Europe.

Azerbaijan and Turkey have already signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the consortium that will build TANAP for gas supply from Shah Deniz gas field to Europe through Turkey. The parties involved in the project intend to resolve all issues on this gas pipeline in 2012. They also plan to commence construction immediately to complete it by late 2017.