Bulgaria, Russia to sign South Stream deal next week

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov told journalists Wednesday that Bulgaria and Russia will sign a contract to build South Stream, a natural gas pipeline providing an alternative route for Russian deliveries, on July 16th. Zubkov conducted talks with the Bulgarian government Tuesday, negotiations that will continue later this week. He says that both sides have agreed to the proposed doubling of the pipeline’s annual capacity to 63 billion cubic metres per year, while ownership of the pipe network on Bulgarian territory is to be equally shared by Russia and Bulgaria.