Slovakia’s Minister of Economy Peter Ziga and Bulgaria’s State Secretary of Ministry of Energy Zeco Stantov were present at the informal Council meeting held in Bratislava on July 13 were both the Energy Ministers signed the Eastring pipeline project’s Memorandum of Understanding. This marks an expression of strong political support for the pipeline project’s effective implementation. The parties from both sides have given their nod for cooperation on analysis and evaluation that will lead to important decisions to bring the Eastring project into life.

This project will bring a common gas connection network between Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. There are two possible alternatives to commence work on this project that has a yearly planned capacity of 20-40 billion cubic meters. The first alternative is a new pipeline that will use the existing combined infrastructures of transport of Bulgaria and Romania in the maximum possible way. The other alternative is developing an entirely new pipeline covering the route between Malkoclar and Veľké Kapušany, which is quite long.

The representatives of the Slovak Republic consider this pipeline as a crucial project for transport route diversification and energy security enhancement in South-Eastern and Central Europe.