SOFIA, Bulgaria - Bulgaria has formally agreed to join the South Stream pipeline project, the last hurdle that needed to be cleared to deliver Russian gas to large parts of Europe.
Bulgaria also signed a new ten-year Russian gas-supply contract, which foresees a 20 per cent price cut from Jan. 1, Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said Thursday after signing the documents with Gazprom's CEO Alexei Miller.
The South Stream pipeline — funded by Gazprom, Italy's Eni, France's EdF and Germany's Wintershall — is due to start operating in 2015, bringing up to 63 billion cubic meters of gas annually to the Balkans, Austria and Italy.
The Bulgarian section of the pipeline will be 540 kilometres (335 miles) long and will cost €3.3 billion ($4.2 billion), the government said.
