SOFIA, Bulgaria, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov arrived in Sofia to meet with government officials to discuss energy cooperation and the Nabucco gas pipeline.
Berdimuhamedov left for a European tour Wednesday with scheduled stops in Bulgaria and Turkey to discuss the opportunity to explore tapping the vast resource fields in the Caspian Sea.
The Turkmen leader is expected to discuss the Nabucco gas pipeline for Europe with his Bulgarian counterpart Georgi Parvanov, the Sofia News Agency reports.
Parvanov in December said he had assurances from Ashgabat for the supply of 70 billion cubic feet of gas per year through existing energy networks, later expressing his support for the $10.3 billion Nabucco project.
Nabucco would run from the Caspian region through Turkey to Austria along a route through Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. Regional hosts and interested parties expressed their support for Nabucco during a summit in Ankara in July.
Financial obstacles and a lack of firm supply commitments, however, drag on the development of the pipeline.
Turkmenistan has emerged as a potential supplier for Nabucco as Ashgabat looks for new customers. The relationship with its Russian partners declined in April following disruptions at a gas pipeline, which Ashgabat blamed on energy monopoly Gazprom.
