Bulgarian natural gas deals advance the Nabucco cause

Bulgaria is the second Nabucco transit country, after Hungary, to ratify the agreement to build the pipeline; the intergovernmental agreement was signed by the project's host countries – Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria – in July 2009 (PE 8/09 p26). Romania looks set to be next to ratify the agreement, with an approved draft law soon to go before parliament. The EU-backed Nabucco pipeline aims to transport up to 31bn cubic metres of gas a year (cm/y) of gas from Caspian-basin and Middle Eastern countries direct to central Europe, avoiding Russian territory. In early February, Bulgaria's new prime minister, Boyko Borisov, visited Istanbul to sign three joint energy-infrastructu