The Egyptian oil minister held talks Thursday in Bulgaria about selling up to 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year to the EU country, which is trying to cut its dependence on Russian energy imports. Egypt's Oil Minister Sameh Fahmy said deliveries could begin in 2011-2012, starting at half a billion cubic meters per year. Dimitrov said Egyptian gas could come to Bulgaria through the existing Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline if Turkey and Egypt were to link their gas networks. Such a link, he said, would be "crucial to guarantee Egyptian supplies for the Nabucco gas pipeline project."
