Whatever the reason for the cut off supplies of Russian natural gas to Bulgaria, the energy shock that hit the country on January 6 was a painful reminder of its total dependence on Russia's energy policy.

For years, Bulgaria has been relying on its sole natural gas pipeline that brings natural gas from Russia and that has allowed Bulgaria to act as a transit country for natural gas supplies to Greece, Turkey and Macedonia.

The halt of supplies on January 6 showed the position Bulgaria was in when left on its own.

The only source the country and its industries could rely on for natural gas was the sole storage complex in the village of Chiren, that could only supply a third of normal daily needs, and then for no more than three months. What followed was the worst energy crisis Bulgaria has faced, worse than the winter of 1996, which is always given as the best example of how bad things can become in Bulgaria.

Now, when the country has considerably more wealth than in 1996 and has signed contracts with Russia's Gazprom, having just one pipeline still leaves Bulgaria vulnerable.

The telephone conversations that President Georgi Purvanov and Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev had with their Russian and Ukrainian counterparts on the issue produced no real results, just as the calls made by the European Commission and the US to Ukraine and Russia to restore deliveries made no immediate difference. 

Even if supplies were restored, the damage already had been done to Bulgarian business, with some of the country's major plants starting to shut down on the first day of suspension of supply.

The crisis revived calls by Purvanov to seek alternative routes for natural gas supplies, and re-ignited the issue of re-launching the two mothballed units of Kozloduy nuclear power plant. Ever since Bulgaria was required by the EC to shut the units down as part of the conditions to join the EU in 2007, calls to restart them emerge every time Bulgaria has problems with energy consumption, only to encounter EC reluctance to even look at the issue. This time it was no different. As for the construction of the country's second nuclear power plant in Belene, both Purvanov and Stanishev have long ago acknowledged that it has fallen behind schedule.  

Further, Purvanov was quick to cite his efforts in working on the Nabuco and South Stream pipeline projects. He was supported by Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov, who said that matters would have been different for Bulgaria had one of these projects already been in operation.

Unfortunately, construction on both projects is far from started. The South Stream gas pipeline will transport natural gas from Russia, through Bulgaria on its way to Italy and Austria. Gas supplies through the pipeline are due to begin in 2013-2014. This pipeline will still keep Bulgaria dependent on Russia's energy sources and policy and, as the current situation has shown, Moscow has little sympathy for a third country's needs.  

The Nabuco pipeline, that is intended to pump 30 billion cu m a year as of 2013 from Central Asia and Azerbaijan to Europe via Bulgaria, has run into a series of obstacles such as security of supplies, the rival project South Stream and US reluctance to source Iranian gas. The project operator has courted Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Egypt and Iraq as potential gas suppliers but so far only Azerbaijan pledged readiness to supply gas.

This leaves the only-short-term and quickest solution of the construction of a pipeline connection to Turkey and Greece, which would not entirely take Bulgaria out of Russia's energy grip, but would at least provide some alternative in times of crisis.