25.07.2017
Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Dontchev and the Minister of Energy Temenuzhka Petkova met with the Ambassador of the State of Israel to Bulgaria H.E. Irit Lillian within the context of the energy strategy for security of deliveries and diversification of natural gas sources and routes.
The Bulgarian side presented its priorities in the energy sector and highlighted the need for diversification of deliveries of natural gas for our country and the region of South East Europe. The project for the European gas hub “Balkan” foresees the possibility for natural gas deliveries from different sources and in this respect the Bulgarian side expressed interest in potential deliveries from Israeli natural gas fields, whose predicted extraction capacity will reach 1000 billion cubic meters, while the extraction is planned to start in 2019.
At the meeting, the progress on the building of the gas interconnector with Greece was also discussed as an entry structure for import from alternative sources for the region of South East Europe and a natural prerequisite for the realization of the gas hub “Balkan”.
The meeting attendees confirmed the traditionally good bilateral relations between Bulgaria and Israel and agreed that the possibility for deepening the cooperation in the energy field will contribute to the development of the economies of the two states.
