Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova met on Monday with Energy and Water Minister Yuval Steinitz and informed him that her country was interested in buying natural gas from Israel, which it would receive via Greece's connection to the Israel-Europe undersea pipeline.
Petkova announced that Bulgaria, in conjunction with the Greek government, was planning to build a gas pipeline connecting it to the EastMed Pipeline Project. She also invited Steinitz to attend a summit of European energy ministers in Bulgaria this coming April.
Additionally, the European Union is allotting €35 million ($43 million) to better explore the route of the natural gas pipeline from Israel to Europe.
The pipeline, which will be about 2,200 kilometers (1,400 miles) long, will extend from Israel's offshore Leviathan reservoir to Cyprus, Greece and Italy.
For the EU, the decision to invest the considerable sum illustrates the importance of importing Israeli gas and building the undersea pipeline.
In December, Cyprus, Israel, Greece and Italy affirmed their commitment to moving ahead with the project.
Steinitz said at the time that the construction of the $7.3 billion pipeline could take between six and seven years and that the countries involved in the project "are serious about it; it will happen."
