Turkey starts building gas pipeline to Bulgaria

Turkey's state pipeline company Botas has kicked off construction of a planned gas link with Bulgaria.

The interconnection grid is to be finished in 2015 and will supply Bulgaria with energy from the Blue Stream, a Russian pipeline delivering gas to Turkey.

It is planned that a total of 175 km of pipes will reach the town of Sarkoy, in Tekirdag region near the Bulgarian border.

For the purpose of construction activities, the method of horizontal drilling will be used for the first time in the country, Bulgarian National Radio reports.

Gas interconnection with Turkey has been hailed by the EP as one of the projects "of mutual interest".

Energy cooperation between Ankara and Sofia could soon be extended further than the building of a gas link, as Turkey's Ambassador to Bulgaria Suleyman Gokce said on Wednesday it was very likely that Bulgaria could be included in TANAP,the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline that will lead fuel from Azerbaijan to Turkey.

A Memorandum of Understanding, which was recently signed by Bulgarian Economy Minister Dragomir Stoynev and Turkish counterpart Taner Yildiz, envisages that Azerbaijani gas be transported to Europe via Turkey.

Bakudaily.az