BULGARIA LOOKING TO SELL ELECTRICITY TO IRAQ

UNCLAS SOFIA 000508 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR EB/ESC/IEC E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ENRG PREL ETRD PGOV IZ TU BU SUBJECT: BULGARIA LOOKING TO SELL ELECTRICITY TO IRAQ ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Bulgaria's new Minister of Energy, Miroslav Sevlievski, asked March 15 for U.S. assistance in facilitating a deal that would provide Bulgarian electricity to Iraq through Turkey. In a meeting with the DCM, he suggested that the deal would provide up to 300 MW to the Bosporus grid for use in Turkey. Turkey would in return provide electricity to Iraq. Bulgaria will need to take the first step by approaching Turkey bilaterally. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) Sevlievski implied U.S. assistance would be needed to convince Turkey to cooperate. The idea to sell electricity to Iraq is very much in the formative stage. While Bulgarian officials intend to raise it with the Iraqi Energy Minister, they have not approached Turkey yet. Related to this, the PM's office has contracted Washington lobbying firm Patton Boggs to assist in putting this and other Iraq-related deals together. Patton Boggs has approached the Embassy requesting our assistance in arranging meetings at State to discuss the proposed deal. ¶3. (U) Under a 1998 "Bilateral Agreement on Cooperation in the Areas of Energy and Infrastructure," Turkey agreed to purchase 32 billion kWh of Bulgarian electricity between 1999 through 2008. In return, a Turkish company would construct a highway and a hydroelectric power plant in Bulgaria. However, Turkey terminated electricity imports from Bulgaria in April 2003, claiming that Bulgaria was delaying implementation of the infrastructre projects. ¶4. (SBU) COMMENT: Post is unable to evaluate the feasibility of this proposal. However, an electricity sale to Iraq would support Bulgaria's desire for tangible benefits for its participation in the Iraq coalition. It could also assist Iraq to meet its energy needs. Energy analysts here believe some infrastructure work would have to be done on Turkish/Iraqi territory to make this deal feasible. The Bulgarians need to take the first step by approaching Turkey bilaterally. At that point, U.S. assistance may be appropriate. Bagdad minimize considered