After South Stream, Bulgaria Seeks to Make Its Own Luck with Interconnectors

At the recent GIE Annual Conference in Dublin, Ireland, Bulgarian Ministry of Energy official Veneta Tzvetkova, was forthright about the disappointment the country had felt.  

“Bulgaria, unfortunately, has not been successful with the large infrastructure projects, like Nabucco and South Stream.”

The cancellation of the Nabucco pipeline came first, in June 2013, as the Shah Deniz consortium, whose Azeri gas Nabucco was hoped to carry chose the Trans Adriatic Pipeline to carry the gas instead.

But worse disappointment was to come in December 2014 when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia was cancelling the project as a result of sanctions from the European Commission and a lack of permitting.

Ms. Tzvetknova, Acting Director of the Bulgarian Energy Ministry’s Energy Projects Management Directorate, told attendees, “We have learned the lesson that large projects might not happen—there is much geopolitics around them.”

Bulgaria is spreading its net wide in choosing partners to help it ensure its energy security and to meet the goal of reducing dependence on Russian gas. (Bulgaria previously imported almost all of its gas from Gazprom.) 

Currently, the country is looking at projects on a smaller scale, she explained, largely with neighbouring countries. 

That could work to the benefit of all parties and, as the official told the conference, the country’s geographic location makes it hugely attractive as a partner to its neighbors—ensuring security of supply not just for Bulgaria but for the region.

“That [its location] is why the most appropriate way to go is to concentrate on building the missing links with neighbouring countries,” she said. 

First on the agenda for completion is the Interconnection Bulgaria-Romania, which itself has not been without delays. Originally expected to be in commercial use by March of last year, bottleneck issues held the project back. Now, Ms. Tzvetknova said, the country expects the pipeline will be finished by the end of this year. 

In conjunction with the Vertical Grid (an interconnection grid between Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania, expected to be completed by the end of 2018), Bulgaria will be able to access Caspian gas as well as LNG from terminals in Turkey, Greece, and Romania. 

It’s just one of four interconnecting pipeline projects Bulgaria is working on at the moment.

Additionally, the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), which Ms. Tzvetknova says is top priority at the moment for the country, is expected to commence in March of next year. 

To the south, work is planned along the existing pipeline with Turkey, the Trans-Balkan pipeline, another possible route for Caspian gas and to existing LNG terminals in Turkey. 

Lastly, Ms. Tzvetknova said, is a planned interconnector with Serbia, Though, she acknowledged, Serbia is not an EU member state, it regards the project as just as much a priority as Bulgaria does.

“For the time being, we do not have any physical connection with the gas system of Serbia. They also import through Russia but it is through another route, through the Ukrainian territory,” she said. “This pipe would be important for Serbia and for the western Balkans as it would provide access to Caspian gas and LNG.”

Financing the project, however, may prove problematic on the Serbian side. 

“For the section of the Bulgarian territory, there is some money earmarked,” Ms. Tzvetknova said. “For the Serbian territory, financing is not provided.”

But interconnections are not the only way that Bulgaria is seeking to safeguard its gas needs and usage for the future. 

The country is also working on expanding its underground storage system in Chiren. 

Ms. Tzvetknova regards the facility, which has a present storage capacity of up to 550 mcm3 natural gas with withdrawal and injection capacity of between 1 mcm3/day and 4.2 mcm3/day (withdrawal), and 1.5 mcm3/day tо 3,5 mcm3/day (injection).

In fact, she credits the Chiren gas storage system as helping to save the country from shortages during the crisis of 2009. 

“Should we have had a larger extraction rate, we would have been in a better situation at that time,” she said.

As the country once again moves toward greater diversification of supply and to safeguard it against future crises, it’s clear that Bulgaria has learned some hard lessons following the South Stream cancellation.

As Ms. Tzvetknova said in concluding her speech, “We need pipes connecting—political will is not sufficient.”

Erica Mills