Bulgarian government intends on retaining the ownership of the existing gas infrastructure despite offering a joint venture for the so-called "Balkan" Gas Hub project.
Bulgaria hopes to turn into a gas distribution centre for South-East Europe that will be used as a transit destination for gas from Azerbaijan, Russia and other destinations.
The gas hub project is not only important to Bulgaria or the EU, but to the entire region, Klaus-Dieter Borchardt, Director Internal Energy Market at the Commission's Energy directorate, said at a conference in Varna.
Russian energy giant Gazprom was not among the companies having representatives at the conference.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said Moscow had not received an invitation as there were no "perspectives" for it in the project.
Political Analysis by Plamen Asenov.
