Backed into a corner over their nearly-total reliance on Russian gas supplies during the ongoing dispute between Russia and Ukraine, Bulgarian authorities were frantically looking for ways to avoid a repeat of the current crisis on January 12, even if that would provide no immediate relief.

Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov, scheduled to participate in an emergency meeting of European Union ministers on the issue, said in a statement that Bulgaria would ask the EU for funding to link up to the gas grids of neighbouring countries.

Currently, Bulgaria receives gas from a sole pipeline carrying Russian gas through Ukraine, which was switched off on January 6 after the pricing war between Moscow and Kiev escalated. Bulgaria would also use the funds to upgrade and expand its existing gas storage facilities, Dimitrov said.

The statement did not specify the amount, but a report by Reuters news agency said Bulgaria would ask for about 400 million euro. The bulk of the funding, 250 million euro, would be to expand the Chiren storage facility, with 125 million going to build an 80km stretch to an existing Turkey-Greece pipeline and another 30km to link its gas network to Romania's, according to the report.

In an interview with Deutsche Welle's Bulgarian-language service, however, Dimitrov side-stepped the money issue, a sensitive one in Sofia as it has already lost hundreds of millions of euro in EU aid and could lose billions over suspicions of corruption and lack of transparency. Instead, Dimitrov emphasised political support.

"We are expecting from the European Union first and foremost political support, because Bulgaria is part of the European Union and this unprecedented strike at the security of deliveries to all of Europe," he said.

The Cabinet of Socialist Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev has come under fire at home for failing to diversify energy sources and further deepening Bulgaria's dependence on Russian gas since it took office in 2005. That included re-negotiation of the deal with Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom that saw Bulgaria pay higher prices, but which Dimitrov's predecessor as economy minister Roumen Ovcharov, who signed the deal, argued would increase the security of gas deliveries to Bulgaria.

It was a mistake Bulgaria would learn from, Dimitrov told Deutsche Welle. "In no case will Bulgaria be the same in its energy policy from now on," he said. "It is clear that we must urgently build links with neighbouring European countries to be able to count on their support and, naturally, the big alternative projects - Nabucco [gas pipeline], a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Greek Aegean coast - must be pursued."

In a separate statement, the Cabinet's press-service said that Stanishev would represent Bulgaria at the working meeting on Nabucco in Budapest on January 26-27. Considered a priority project by the EU, the pipeline remains in its planning stage, even though the first talks on its construction were held in 2002.