Sofia wants a partial revocation of European laws to reserve the bulk of the South Stream gas pipeline capacity for shareholders, an energy minister said.
Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom and Bulgarian Energy Holding agreed to form a joint venture by the end of November for the South Stream pipeline.
Moscow is looking to diversify its natural gas export options after rows with gas transit nation Ukraine exposed vulnerabilities in the regional energy sector.
Marlene Holzner, a spokeswoman for European Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger, said any agreement must comply with EU laws. This includes allowing third parties access to gas transportation facilities.
Bulgarian Energy Minister Traicho Traikov said he would ask for derogation so much of South Stream was reserved for project shareholders, the Sofia News Agency reports. Sofia, he added, would ask that as much as 70 percent of the pipeline capacity be reserved for shareholders, with the rest going to third parties.
He suggested this was no different than the model envisioned for the Nabucco pipeline, which could move non-Russian gas supplies to Europe as early as 2015.
Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom and Bulgarian Energy Holding agreed to form a joint venture by the end of November for the South Stream pipeline.
Moscow is looking to diversify its natural gas export options after rows with gas transit nation Ukraine exposed vulnerabilities in the regional energy sector.
Marlene Holzner, a spokeswoman for European Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger, said any agreement must comply with EU laws. This includes allowing third parties access to gas transportation facilities.
Bulgarian Energy Minister Traicho Traikov said he would ask for derogation so much of South Stream was reserved for project shareholders, the Sofia News Agency reports. Sofia, he added, would ask that as much as 70 percent of the pipeline capacity be reserved for shareholders, with the rest going to third parties.
He suggested this was no different than the model envisioned for the Nabucco pipeline, which could move non-Russian gas supplies to Europe as early as 2015.
