The recent gas crisis put in a new perspective the Nabucco gas pipeline project and added to its political weight, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev commented here Sunday, a day before he is expected to join the leaders of the countries involved in Nabucco, for a meeting in Budapest on January 26.

Nabucco is a joint initiative of Bulgaria's Bulgargaz, Turkey's Botas, Romania's Transgaz, Hungary's MOL, and Austria's OMV, which were joined last year by Germany's RWE. It is planned to transport natural gas (25,000-31,000 million cu m annually) over 3,300 km from the Georgian/Turkish and/or Iranian/Turkish border to Baumgarten an der March in Austria via Turkey, Bulgaria (some 400 km), Romania, and Hungary.

According to an earlier report of the government press office, among the participants in the Budapest meeting of heads of state and government were expected to be President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany in his capacity as host, Prime Ministers Mirek Topolanek of the Czech Republic, Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq and Grigol Mgalobishvili of Georgia, Austrian Economics and Labour Minister Reinhold Mitterlehner, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Mehmet Hilmi Guler, Egyptian Petroleum Minister Sameh Fahmy, senior officials of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and the US, European Investment Bank President Philippe Maystadt, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development President Thomas Mirow, and Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH Managing Director Reinhard Mitschek.

Stanishev said Sunday he is going to meet in the Hungarian capital with the Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Turkey. A meeting with the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan has also been scheduled, to focus on supply of natural gas from that country.

The Prime Minister said that diversifying fuel supplies to Bulgaria requires some 900 million euro which are not available in this year's national budget, and for this reason Bulgaria will approach its European partners. He added that some 250 million euro will be needed for a thorough modernization of the Chiren gas storage facility, another 25 million euro for a gas transmission connection with Greece and more for a linkup with Romania's system and for a link to an alternative supplier of more sizeable amounts of gas through Greece.

"We have to be extremely careful and precise in our analysis on the [possible] reopening of the [shutdown] Kozloduy reactors because now even the European Commission underscore that the gas crisis is over," said Stanishev.

He commented that insecurity in Russia-Ukraine relations remain regardless of the agreement they signed. In his opinion, it was exactly this insecurity that has prompted the Bulgarian Parliament's resolution telling the government to consider reopening Units 3 and 4 of Kozloduy.

Source: BTA