SOFIA, Bulgaria, March 19 (UPI) -- The Bulgarian section of the Nabucco natural gas pipeline for Europe is scheduled for completion by the end of 2011, Bulgarian executives said.
Europe aims to break the Russian stranglehold on the regional energy sector with the Nabucco pipeline. The project would transfer non-Russian gas through Turkey and on to southern Europe, avoiding politically sensitive territory in Ukraine.
Krikor Topakbashiyan, a chief officer at Bulgaria's Himcomplekt Engineering, said the final route for the 256-mile leg of Nabucco through Bulgaria would be finalized this year, the Sofia News Agency reports. Construction would follow in 2011.
The 2,000-mile pipeline could transport 1.1 trillion cubic feet of gas to Europe each year. Despite political backing for the project, supplier nations have been slow to commit.
The European Commission this month said it would contribute $270 million for Nabucco. The project is seen as a rival to Russia's South Stream project that would travel through the Turkish waters of the Black Sea. Nabucco executives, however, said their project is "highly competitive."
Bulgaria holds a 16.5 percent stake in the Nabucco project consortium through Bulgarian natural gas distributing company Bulgargaz.
Nabucco would start delivering as much as 280 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe by 2014.
