site.bta"We Keep Trying to Find Enough Gas" - Energy Minister

"We keep trying to ensure sufficient quantities of natural gas," caretaker Energy Minister Rossen Hristov told a news conference here on Friday.

"From now on, efforts will focus on signing medium-term contracts so as to ensure regular piped gas deliveries at competitive prices," he added.

Hristov declined to name the specific price at which the Chenier LNG tankerload will be procured, saying that it was in the range of BGN 300 to BGN 400/MWh. This tanker will meet about a third of the demand for October. Gas supplies from Azerbaijan will meet another third, so the last third of the demand for October and, respectively, the quantities required for November and December, have yet to be contracted.

"We will be unable to accept the other two tankerloads due in November and December because slots are unavailable, and those that are available cost dozens of millions of euro, inclusive of unloading, regasification and transit costs," Hristov explained, adding that "the gas would thus reach Bulgaria at a non-competitive price".

Bulgaria will bid in auctions for slots for 2023 that the Revithoussa LNG terminal in Greece is planning to hold in late August and early September. "If we manage to contract slots at an affordable price, I don't think we'll have problems finding LNG tankerloads, too. But we prefer piped gas supplies, which is far more manageable and regular," the Energy Minister added.