"Bulgaria and Slovakia will closely cooperate in developing two major gas infrastructure projects enhancing energy security in Central and South-eastern Europe. It is the result of Memorandum of Understanding on the development and realization of the Balkan Gas Hub project in coordination with the Eastring project signed today between Bulgarian and the Slovak gas transmission operators Bulgartransgaz EAD and Eustream," the statement said.
In 2014, Slovakia initiated the Eastring gas pipeline project, after Russia halted the implementation of its South Stream project, intended to traverse the Black Sea to deliver Russian natural gas through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia to Italy and Austria, in order to avoid exporting gas through Ukraine.
Eastring is set to connect Slovakia with the Balkan countries, as well as with the existing gas pipelines in Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and a gas distribution unit due to be built near the Bulgarian city of Varna.