New Europe: Bryza: Nabucco West, TAP commercially superior to South Stream

Regarding natural gas supplies, the solution in the long run for Bulgaria is to find the projects in terms of infrastructure and regulations that will ensure that the country has free-market trading of natural gas because the price is going to go down and its electricity prices will go down as well, Matt Bryza, director of the International Centre for Defence Studies (ICDS) and former US ambassador to Azerbaijan, told New Europe in Athens on 25 February. “But if you allow yourself to become a supporter or become a captive of a project that is going to be commercially inferior to either to TAP [Trans-Adriatic Pipeline] or Nabucco West then you are moving and you are perpetuating your high prices,” Bryza said in an interview on the sidelines of the Athens Energy Forum 2013.

“My advice would be to pursue the gas pipeline system that makes the most economic sense for Bulgaria and that to me without a question is going to be the Southern Corridor. Whether it’s TAP with a spur to Bulgaria or Nabucco West with a spur from Bulgaria to Greece, there is no question about the superior economics of the Southern Corridor to South Stream. No question,” the American diplomat argued.

High prices and complaints about monopolies created a political and social crisis in Bulgaria.  MORE