Azerbaijan to increase gas deliveries to Bulgaria, Europe

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Azerbaijan’s president says his country is a reliable partner and will stick to an agreement to double gas exports to the European Union by 2027. President Ilhan Aliyev was in Bulgaria’s capital for the official launch Saturday of a new pipeline that will supply natural gas from Azerbaijan. Bulgaria’s vital supply of Russian gas was cut off in April amid the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Speaking to reporters in Sofia, Aliyev called a new gas interconnector with Greece “a historic achievement and an opportunity for Azeri gas to reach Europe in larger quantities.” The 182-kilometer (115-mile) pipeline is designed to run from the Greek city of Komotini to Stara Zagora in central Bulgaria.