Russia
will lower the price of natural gas for Bulgaria by 11.1% when the
shareholders in the South Stream pipeline project - Russia's Gazprom and
Bulgarian state-owned Bulgartransgaz - resolve the outstanding issues,
Bulgaria's economy minister said.
When all issues are resolved and
Bulgaria makes a final investment decision, it will get an 11.1% cut in
the price of gas supplies retroactively, from April 1, state-run
Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) reported on Monday quoting economy minister
Delyan Dobrev.
The construction of the pipeline cannot
begin because no contractors to carry out an environmental impact
assessment and territorial planning of the project have been chosen yet,
local business newspaper Capital Daily reported. Without an
environmental impact assessment study Bulgaria cannot sign an investment
agreement on the South Stream project, which Russia expects to kick off
in November.