SOFIA, Bulgaria, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Bulgarian Finance Minister Petar Chobanov said Friday the South Stream natural gas pipeline planned from Russia will boost his nation's economy by 2 percent.
Chobanov made the announcement during a budget presentation to members of Parliament, the Bulgarian newspaper Standart reported Friday.
He said the $4.7 billion pipeline project would help boost the Bulgarian gross domestic product by 2 percent from 2014. He attributed the increase to the expected employment and revenue that results from the pipeline's construction.
Russian natural gas company Gazprom announced construction of the pipeline started in Bulgaria last week.
South Stream is meant to add diversity to Russia's export routes through Europe. A contractual dispute between Gazprom and its counterparts in Ukraine, which hosts most of Russia's gas for Europe, adds a layer of risk to conventional routes, officials say.
Bulgarian consumers will receive gas from South Stream at a discounted rate once the entire project starts operating in 2015. Gazprom said construction should begin in other downstream countries by year's end.
The pipeline is designed for an annual capacity of 2.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
