Bulgaria has agreed to participate in the South Stream project, and the agreement will be signed on July 16, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said on Wednesday.
"We can say that we've reached a complete understanding with the Bulgarian government and the head of the government has confirmed that Bulgaria is joining the South Stream project," Zubkov told reporters.
"All issues that are necessary to solve now will be solved based on the 'road map' that we brought with us and proposed," said Zubkov calling the results of his negotiations with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov "successful."
The "road map" will be agreed upon on Thursday.
The South Stream is a gas pipeline to transport Russian gas to western Europe bypassing Ukraine. The offshore part, operated by Russia's Gazprom and Italy's ENI, will run from Russia's mainland under the Black Sea to the Bulgarian coast.
Zubkov added that Russia had agreed with the Bulgarian side on using pre-existing gas pipes on the territory of the country, and that gas volumes passing through Bulgaria will be increased by 63 billion square meters.
Russia and Bulgaria signed an agreement on the South Stream project in January 2008, and both financial and technical preparations were scheduled to be put together by mid-2010.
Last June, Gazprom announced the possibility of re-routing the South Stream through Romania, instead of Bulgaria, after Borisov said that his country will not proceed with previous agreements to build a joint gas line with Russia and Greece.
MOSCOW, July 7 (RIA Novosti)
