“Bulgaria has a special role in our attempt to establish a new natural gas corridor from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe, either through existing or planned infrastructure,” Lakkotrypis said on Monday evening. The minister is accompanying President Nicos Anastasiades on an official visit to Bulgaria.

Lakkotrypis, who was commenting following meetings with Bulgarian officials, including energy minister Temenushka Petkova, said that Bulgaria could become part of Cyprus’s planning which includes gas producers Egypt and Israel as well as Greece.

He said Cyprus and Bulgaria agreed in a memorandum of understanding on energy they signed on Monday to set up a technical committee that will look into the existing natural gas infrastructure, including pipelines, liquefaction and regasification plants, including those planned for the future.

“This is exactly what will be discussed at a technical level” following preliminary discussions on a pipeline linking Greece’s Alexandroupoli to Bulgaria “which is something which interests us,” he said.

Cyprus will have to discuss with Greek authorities about their “planning for a floating degasification plant planned in Alexandroupoli”, a coastal town in north Greece close to the border with Turkey, he said.

“There is also the effort that concerns the EastMed pipeline, which could terminate in Revythousa,” an islet off the coast of Attica that feeds Greece’s natural gas network, he said.

The EastMed pipeline is a project Cyprus, Israel and Greece agreed to explore a month ago.

Source: Cyprus Mail