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Bulgaria, Greece Start Work on Gas Pipeline from Azerbaijan

by Associated Press

   SOFIA, BULGARIA --

   Bulgaria and Greece are launching the construction of a pipeline to
   transport Azeri gas to Bulgaria to ease its almost total dependence on
   Russian gas supplies.

   At a ceremony near the border on Wednesday, the two prime ministers,
   Boyko Borissov and Alexis Tsipras, oversaw the formal start to
   construction of the 182-kilometer (114 miles) link between the two
   countries' gas transmission systems.

   The pipeline is scheduled to become operational at the end of 2020,
   when Bulgaria is due to receive deliveries of Azeri gas from the Shah
   Deniz 2 development.

   The link is estimated to cost 220 million euros ($245 million) and its
   projected capacity will be between 3 and 5 billion cubic meters
   (105-175 billion cubic feet) per year.