Bulgaria will hold talks with Gazprom Export on the resumption of gas supplies. Also, negotiations are planned with Azerbaijan on the topic of increasing supplies, the head of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic, Rozen Hristov, said at a briefing.
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“Bulgarian business will not be able to cope with the high price of gas, which in practice makes negotiations with Gazprom Export about resuming gas supplies under the current agreement inevitable,” Mr. Hristov said.
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He noted that it would not be easy to reach an agreement. According to him, it is also planned to hold talks on additional gas supplies from Azerbaijan, which will begin on Monday. It is planned to discuss the size of deliveries and prices.
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“At the moment, we are not so worried about volumes, we have proposals for gas supplies. What worries us the most is the price and the tendency of the market to systematically increase prices,” said Rosen Hristov.
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On April 27, Gazprom completely suspended gas supplies to the Bulgarian company Bulgargaz due to its refusal to pay under the new ruble scheme. In the summer, gas prices in Bulgaria began to rise sharply. In July, the price per MWh was about €95, and in August it was already €149. In September, gas prices are expected to rise by another 6%. Now Bulgaria uses liquefied gas from the USA and gas from Azerbaijan.
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Bulgaria, together with Greece and Italy, are the only three countries in Europe that receive Azerbaijani gas. The Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline has been operating since 2021, however, there was no interconnector in Bulgaria, so the volumes were reduced by three to four times, and Russia remained the main supplier. It is planned to put the new interconnector into operation in October-November 2022.
