The construction of the Nabucco gas pipeline on Bulgarian territory will be launched in mid-2013. This became clear during a Nabucco Committee sitting in Bulgaria's capital Sofia on 10 January.
Governmental delegations from Austria, Romania, Hungary and Turkey, as well as representatives of the investors and the International Monetary Fund were present at the sitting, among others.
The length of Bulgaria's Nabucco section will be 424 km.
The EU-backed Nabucco project is to carry Caspian natural gas to Europe by circumventing Russia.
In May 2012, the Nabucco Consortium presented the revised, smaller version of the gas pipeline project called Nabucco West.
The 1300-km pipeline Nabucco West is to carry Caspian gas from the Bulgarian-Turkish border to the Central European Gas Hub (CEGH) in Baumgarten and beyond.
“With the construction of the Bulgaria-Turkey Interconnector we can begin the construction of the first phase of the South Gas Corridor”, the Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism Delyan Dobrev said during the meeting. He explained that the establishment of an affiliate company of "Nabucco International" was under consideration for early development of the project in order to ensure greater flexibility in its implementation.
Map of the Nabucco West gas pipeline project by Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH