Bulgaria in talks with US investors to expand "Turkish Stream" - media
Kyiv • UNN
Bulgaria is in talks with US investors to expand the Turkish Stream pipeline, the only route for Russian gas to Central Europe. The investment could support the transit of Russian gas.
The leader of Bulgaria's ruling GERB party, Boyko Borisov, has announced talks with US investors on expanding the capacity of the TurkStream pipeline - currently the only route for Russian pipeline gas to Central Europe, which is almost entirely supplied by Gazprom, Euractiv reports, UNN writes.
Details
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov also confirmed ongoing negotiations with an American hedge fund, but said the government is not yet ready to disclose further details.
"It is not about selling (the gas pipeline), but about investing and expanding its capacity," Borisov said on Wednesday evening.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that US hedge fund Elliott Management, led by Republican billionaire Paul Singer, is seeking a deal to acquire a stake in the Bulgarian segment of the TurkStream pipeline.
Although the pipeline infrastructure through Turkey and Bulgaria is Gazprom's only access point to the European market, it is legally classified as exclusive state property in Bulgaria and cannot be sold, which Euractiv confirmed.
Bulgaria earns more than $300 million a year from the transit of Russian gas to Serbia and Hungary.
In a conversation with Euractiv, Ruslan Stefanov, Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), warned that without an official EU ban on Russian gas imports, such an agreement would run counter to European strategic interests.
"American investments of this kind would only make sense if sanctions were imposed on Russian gas imports to the EU. In this case, expanding gas infrastructure in Bulgaria could help increase imports of liquefied natural gas, including US LNG, to Central Europe," Stefanov said.
He warned that if such sanctions are not introduced, the investment would effectively support the expansion of Russian gas transit - directly undermining the EU's climate and security goals, as well as the European Commission's stated intention to abandon Russian gas imports by 2027.
TurkStream or the revival of Nord Stream 2?
According to Stefanov, the negotiations between the Bulgarian authorities and American investors are taking place against the backdrop of wider media speculation about potential high-level contacts between Washington and the Kremlin, including speculation about a possible revival of the Nord Stream project.
"These speculations are most likely attempts by Russian intermediaries to present US-Russia talks on Ukraine as a done deal, which is clearly not the case," he said.
"The TurkStream initiative may be part of the same narrative, which uses Bulgaria's desire to gain favor with influential players in Washington. However, the deal remains unlikely, as it could directly threaten the strategic interests of both the US and the EU," Stefanov said.
According to CSD, the Russian state budget receives more than $10 billion annually from oil and gas sales in Central and Eastern Europe - revenue that the agency warns is used to finance the war against Ukraine.