The main goal of the government is not to make new supplies more expensive
Larger quantities of gas from Azerbaijan will start entering Bulgaria in late May, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said in response to a question from GERB MP Zhecho Stanchev.
When asked by GERB MP Zhecho Stankov whether the entire amount of Azeri gas will be received from July (1 billion cubic meters per year – ed. Note) at a low price, the prime minister said yes.
He recalled that he had talked to his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis at least 20 times that
the gas connection with Greece needs to be speeded up
“Besides, negotiations are underway with the Azerbaijani country not to wait until June 30, but to receive gas at the end of May,” Petkov said.
Negotiations with the United States and Egypt on liquefied gas supplies are at an advanced stage. The goal is for the price of the general mix for the Bulgarian market not to be higher than the price of Gazprom. This was stated by Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, who together with the Minister of Energy Alexander Nikolov was in the parliament to answer the deputies for the deliveries after Gazprom stopped them.
He outlined three priorities of the cabinet – to have enough gas, the supply to be minimal risk and the price to be the best.
Petkov pointed out that 4 months ago the government found Bulgaria completely dependent on Gazprom, paid BGN 3 billion for a pipeline that we cannot use, an unfinished connection with Greece.
Regarding the request to open two accounts in Gazprombank and the conversion of the payment in rubles, Petkov said that this is a change in the contract, which does not guarantee a low price and security of supply, because it depended on the dollar-ruble exchange rate.
What did Russia tell us? We violate the contract unilaterally, the price may vary and your deliveries are uncertain, it was a handshake and a clear unilateral breach of contract. But we were ready, said the Prime Minister.
According to him, it was possible to buy liquefied gas now in addition to the Azerbaijani gas, and that would be enough for all our consumption for this year. The quantities so far come from the United States, depending on the price we agree on, the prime minister said.
Energy Minister Nikolov said Met was not an intermediary but a trader and was not importing Russian gas but liquefied gas.
The head of the Bulgarian Energy Holding Ivan Andreev said that the financial resources have been provided, consultants have been hired to provide an analysis of the contracts. And after the suspension of deliveries on April 27, Bulgargaz has taken measures to ensure that there are no restrictions.
As of May 4, there are over 103 million cubic meters in the storage in Chiren, announced the head of Bulgartransgaz Vladimir Malinov. They would provide 40% of the country’s consumption in 42 days.
However, the head of SANS Plamen Tonchev, who was also at the debates in the parliament, warned that
there may have been an increase in gas
and rising social tensions, accompanied by demands to extend state compensation, as businesses have already requested.
And GERB MP Delyan Dobrev announced that he and his colleague will contact SANS and the Interior Ministry to check at what prices the company “Met” is currently selling gas to “Bulgargaz” and at what prices it is buying it again from the state company. According to him, “Met bought for 82 euros, and sold for 102 euros.” Dobrev drew up reports on the transit of gas to prove that we use Russian gas at higher prices.
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