Published by Wikileaks & Bivol.bg
id: 192521 date: 2/18/2009 8:11 refid: 09SOFIA70 origin: Embassy Sofia classification: CONFIDENTIAL destination: 09SOFIA60 header: VZCZCXRO5093 OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSR DE RUEHSF #0070/01 0490811 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 180811Z FEB 09 FM AMEMBASSY SOFIA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5774 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SOFIA 000070 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/16/2019 TAGS: ENRG, ECON, PREL, PGOV SUBJECT: BULGARIA: MINISTER OF ENERGY ON POST-GAS CRISIS STRATEGY REF: SOFIA 0060 Classified By: Ambassador Nancy McEldowney for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 1. (C) Summary: Minister of Economy and Energy Petar Dimitrov used a February 13 meeting with the Ambassador to lay out Bulgaria's post-gas crisis energy strategy. Heavy on diversification projects, the as-yet unwritten plan seeks to distance Bulgaria from Russian energy sources. In the two-hour meeting, Dimitrov did not once mention South Stream. Instead, he accused Russia of blackmailing Bulgaria into dropping compensation claims against Gazprom by threatening retaliation for Bulgarian arms sales to Georgia. He questioned the future of the Russian-led Belene nuclear power plant project while stoking interest in a separate, proposed Westinghouse-led project. He commited to support efforts to improve transparency in Bulgaria's notoriously-opaque energy sector and pled for Washington attendance at Bulgaria's April 24-25 Energy Security Summit, so that the event would not become "a ball at which only Putin will dance." End Summary. A DECIDEDLY ANTI-RUSSIAN MESSAGE -------------------------------- 2. (C) Dimitrov's February 13 message had a decidedly anti-Russian tone. He described Bulgarian preparations to launch a legal claim against Gazprom for the losses Bulgaria incurred as a result of January's two-week gas cut off. The Russians continue to claim that Ukraine is the guilty party, but, Dimitrov said, "we have no contracts with Ukraine." He said it was clear that Gazprom did not supply Ukraine with the volumes of gas needed for export, so Gazprom is clearly "at fault." Dimitrov said Putin has acknowledged that the Socialist-led Bulgarian government suffered clear political losses during the crisis, and as a consequence the Russians have hinted at some flexibility on the issue of abandoning the shady Gazprom-owned intermediaries currently operating in the Bulgarian gas market. But this hint of flexibility is a ruse, indicated Dimitrov, as Russia is now threatening to invoke sanctions against Bulgaria for providing arms to Georgia, if Bulgaria proceeds with its Gazprom compensation claim. Dependent on Russian maintenance and spare parts for large swaths of its Soviet-era military hardware, such sanctions would deal a severe blow to the Bulgarian military and hurt its ability to meet its NATO commitments, said Dimitrov. LITANY OF DIVERSIFICATION PROJECTS, WITH AN EMPHASIS ON TURKEY --------------------------------------------- ----------------- 3. (C) Dimitrov recounted a list of diversification projects that the gas crisis placed on the front burner: expansion of gas storage, gas interconnections and LNG cooperation with Greece and Turkey, greater support for on-going domestic gas exploration and extraction, especially with the British company Melrose at Kaliakra and with the Colorado-based Direct Petroleum at Deventsi. While it was Greece that came through for Bulgaria during the gas crisis, the Bulgarians are especially keen to pursue greater energy cooperation with Turkey and they are seeking our help to develop more of an appetite on Turkey's part for such cooperation. Possibilities include making the gas pipelines between Bulgarian and Turkey reversible, pursuing a Turkey-Greece-Italy Interconnector hook-up in Turkey (if the Greece TGI hook-up does not materialize), Bulgarian access to Turkey's LNG facilities, and dusting off plans for joint hydro projects. 4. (C) Dimitrov hinted at problems at the Belene Nuclear Power Plant project (being built by Russia's AtomStroyExport) and made a full court press to get Westinghouse interested in a new nuclear project, Kozluduy 7 and 8. While the government remains commited to Belene, Dimitrov said Bulgaria would be interested in taking a minority stake of a future Kozluduy 7 and 8 project, if Westinghouse would take the lead. The Ambassador commited to sharing Bulgaria's interest with Westinghouse. (Note: problems at the Belene NPP are being reported septel.) THE APRIL ENERGY SUMMIT ----------------------- 5. (C) In a now common-refrain, Dimitrov pled with the Ambassador for high-level Washington representation at the April 24-25 Energy Security Summit, which will likely be held in Bulgaria's second city Plovdiv. Dimitrov worried that SOFIA 00000070 002 OF 002 without high level USG representation, the summit would be unbalanced - "a ball at which only Putin would dance." The Ambassador indicated it was still too early to know who might attend from Washington, but Bulgaria could improve the profile of the summit by offering a clear vision of what would be accomplished. An emphasis on achieving greater energy security through diversification and increased transparency would be a start. 6. (C) Comment: Normally soft-spoken, on-message and hesitant to criticize Russia, Dimitrov has delivered an increasingly anti-Russia message of late. This meeting with the Ambassador (where South Stream was not mentioned once) is another indication that change is afoot. The gas cut-off has opened some eyes and changed the dynamic. The test will come when it is time to turn this hard talk into concrete action. McEldowney
