Bulgaria backing away from South Stream?

SOFIA, Bulgaria, July 14 (UPI) -- The government in Bulgaria may back away from the South Stream gas pipeline and other Russian energy projects when the new Cabinet takes office this week.

The governments of Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Austria signed an agreement on the Western-backed Nabucco pipeline during a ceremony Monday in Ankara.

Europe sees the Nabucco pipeline as a way to diversify a regional energy sector that is dependent on Russia. South Stream, meanwhile, is part of Russia's effort to expand its European transit options.

Delegates from Russia, Serbia, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria in May met in the Russian resort city of Sochi to sign agreements on the South Stream gas pipeline. Planners expect South Stream to bring 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from Central Asia each year to southern Europe through the Balkans.

But the new government in Sofia may back away from the agreement, hoping for improved terms with Russia in the wake of the Nabucco agreement, Russia Today reports.

Boyko Borisov, the head of the center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, takes the premiership this week in Sofia. He has called for a detailed review of the terms for South Stream, signaling a possible move away from Russia.