Bulgarian Govt Approves Nabucco Project Support Agreement
Bulgaria's government approved a project support agreement for the Nabucco gas pipeline.
"The cabinet approved an agreement on support for the Nabucco gas pipeline project signed in June 2011 by Bulgaria, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH and Nabucco gas Pipeline Bulgaria EOOD, and proposed it for ratification by Parliament," it said in a statement released on Tuesday following a regular weekly meeting.
"The support agreement aims to set down the details of the mode of implementation of the project on Bulgarian territory," the statement added.
All signatories to the intergovernmental agreement on the construction of the Nabucco pipeline - Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey - are obliged to sign project support agreements, undertaking to ensure that favourable legislative conditions for the implementation of the project are in place.
Austria's OMV, the Bulgarian Energy Holding, Turkey's Botas, Romania's Transgaz, Hungary's MOL and Germany's RWE are partners in the Vienna-based Nabucco Gas Pipeline International, the project company of the 3,300-kilometre pipeline designed to connect the Caspian region and the Middle East with the Turkish and European gas markets that will ensure diversification of routes and sources and contribute to the security of gas supplies. The first gas deliveries are expected by 2017.