South Stream Bulgaria

Bulgaria's gas transmission system operator Bulgartransgaz said it is planning to acquire 28 properties owned by South Stream Bulgaria, a 50/50 joint venture set up by Russia's Gazprom and state-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding.

The properties have a total estimated value of 13.2 million levs ($8.3 million/6.7 million euro), Bulgartransgaz said in a notice on Tuesday.

Sofia cannot move to suspend activities related to the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline, a former Energy Minister and current MP said on Sunday.

Bulgaria's interconnections with neighboring countries could entirely meet the need of natural gas if the regular flow is disrupted, according to the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH).

South Stream Bulgaria head Dimitar Gogov has downplayed recent comments that Sofia would suffer thousands of millions of BGN in losses after the gas pipeline project was suspended last week.

Gogov told private national channel bTV projected revenues would be EUR 448 M if South Stream had not been abandoned, but added the sum was not the country's profit, but general cash flow.

Former Bulgarian Energy Minister Traycho Traykov has described Vladimir Putin's announcement that the South Stream gas pipeline will not be built as a show of muscle.

"Putin is trying to emerge from international isolation by flexing his muscles to the West," Traykov stated in a Tuesday interview for bTV,

Gazprom executives are to meet November 5 to consider the approval of certain transactions with the assets of South Stream Bulgaria, the Russian energy giant announced.

Dimitar Gogov, former head of state-owned gas supplier Bulgargaz EAD, has been appointed CEO of South Stream Bulgaria, the company tasked with building the Bulgarian section of the South Stream gas pipeline.

The South Stream Transport JV has said a pipelaying ship is expected to berth at the Bulgarian port of Burgas on Sunday for works relating to the Moscow-backed gas pipeline.

The announcement that Bulgaria has halted work on the South Stream project “could be a bit more serious” than the previous one, a gas analyst has commented.

The Bulgarian Energy holding surprisingly decided to postpone a decision whether to receive a EUR 620 M from Gazprom for the construction of the South Stream pipeline.

BEH had planned to boost the capital of South Stream Bulgaria (a joint venture of the holding and Russian energy concern Gazprom) with the funds.