Bulgaria Wants to Buy Gas From Israel

Bulgaria would be interested in buying Israeli gas if the EastMed pipeline connecting Leviathan to Europe is built.

Bulgarian Minister of Energy Temenuzhka Petkova has told Israeli Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz that Bulgaria was interested in buying natural gas from Israel through the Greek hookup to a natural gas pipeline from Israel to Europe. Petkova announced that Bulgaria was planning to build a gas pipeline in cooperation with Greece that would connect Bulgaria to the EastMed project.

The Bulgarian minister, who heads the European forum of energy ministers, invited Steinitz to take part in a meeting of the European energy ministers in Bulgaria this coming April

Bulgaria currently buys most of its natural gas from Russian company Gazprom. Like all the European countries, Bulgaria would like to diversify its sources of natural gas. Connecting Bulgaria to Steinitz's initiative is no simple matter; it probably requires laying a land-based pipeline between Greece and Bulgaria.

The EastMed project for laying an pipeline from the Leviathan natural gas reservoir to Italy via Greece has passed one European Union (EU) hurdle with the EU's allocation of €34.5 million this year for completion of planning ahead of a final decision about investment in the project in 2019.

35% of the development work on the Leviathan reservoir has been completed. Construction of a gas pipeline to transport the gas from the handling platform to the Dor shore has ended, and the company has also begun preparations for the arrival of the new ENSCO DS 7 drilling platform in Israel in March, the Leviathan partners have announced.

Development of the Leviathan reservoir, Israel's largest natural gas project,...