Bulgaria suspends role in South Stream gas pipeline

The Bulgarian government said it was suspending all actions related to the planned Russian natural gas pipeline, South Stream, because of European rules.

Bulgarian Minister of Energy and Economy Vasil Shtonov called Monday for a suspension of all actions on South Stream because "the project does not meet the legal requirements of the European Commission."

European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger in June said the South Stream project should be put on hold because it's not in compliance with legislation passed in the European Union.

European leaders are wary of allowing companies that produce gas to control the corresponding transit systems.

South Stream is a Russian gas pipeline meant to avoid geopolitically sensitive territory in Ukraine. Russia meets about a quarter of Europe's gas needs, though the bulk of those supplies run through the Soviet-era transit network in Ukraine.

In May, Gazprom said it signed the necessary contracts needed to start construction of the onshore section of the pipeline later this year. South Stream has an optimum capacity of 2.2 trillion cubic feet per year.

The Serbian government is among the other potential host nations to put the project on hold.