End of the Russian monopoly in the Balkans, Greece and Bulgaria open the new gas pipeline

2022-07-09 20:31:31Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
End of the Russian monopoly in the Balkans, Greece and Bulgaria open the new gas
The Greek-Bulgarian gas pipeline is inaugurated

The acting prime minister of Bulgaria, Kiril Petkov, and his Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, have inaugurated the opening of the gas pipeline, which will serve to reduce dependence on Russia.

They have symbolically opened a valve, a gesture which Mitsotakis described as an act of creating a bridge between north and south, Athens and Sofia.

The 220 million euro pipeline will transport gas from the northern Greek city of Komotini to Stara Zagora in Bulgaria and connect to another pipeline carrying gas to Azerbaijan.

Bulgaria's supply of Russian gas was cut at the end of April amid tensions over the Russian occupation of Ukraine.

Sofia had rejected the request of the state company Gazprom to pay gas bills in rubles.

The Bulgarian Prime Minister has stated that the gas pipeline in question puts an end to the Russian monopolist in the Balkans by providing an alternative source. The ceremony was also attended by the Azeri Minister of Energy, Parviz Shahbazov, the country that is the source of natural gas.

The project to build a gas pipeline between Bulgaria and Greece had started in 2009, but construction only started in 2019.


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