Russian President Vladimir Putin today secured Bulgarian participation in a pipeline project to expand Russian gas deliveries into southern Europe.
Mr Putin and his team achieved the breakthrough in overnight talks with Sofia which had been reluctant to sign up for the €10 billion ($14.66 billion) South Stream gas pipeline due to ownership disputes.
Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said Bulgaria would sign the deal today, bringing the Balkan EU member €1.4 billion in cash and a role in a regional energy hub.
The South Stream project, proposed by Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom and Italy's Eni, is Moscow's challenge to a rival plan to pipe Central Asian gas to the European Union and reduce the bloc's reliance on Russian energy.
Failure to reach a deal on Bulgarian participation would have been a major upset to Mr Putin, whose two-day trip to Sofia may be his last foreign visit before stepping down.
Bulgaria wanted a majority stake in the pipeline project going through its territory, and Moscow was unwilling to grant that.
Mr Stanishev said Bulgaria had agreed to a 50 per cent stake in a Bulgarian-Russian company that will own and operate the pipeline running through Bulgaria.
The pipeline, which will carry 30 billion cubic metres of gas under the Black Sea, will re-emerge on the Bulgarian coast.