site.btaUPDATED Prime Minister Points Out Cabinet's Three Main Priorities in Connection with Gas Supplies

Prime Minister Kiril Petkov pointed out three main priorities of the government in connection with gas supplies during his hearing in Parliament.

The hearing was at the request of the GERB-UDF party in connection with the official information provided on April 26, 2022 by the Ministry of Energy for the suspension of natural gas supplies by Gazprom Export. Gazprom deliveries have been suspended since April 27.

''The priorities are clear, they are three - to have enough gas, to supply it with minimal risk, and the third - to find the best price so as to allow the Bulgarian economy to be competitive,'' said the Prime Minister.

"Four months ago, we found Bulgaria completely dependent on Gazprom, with BGN 3 billion paid for a pipe that we cannot use, an unfinished connection with Greece, which was talked about 10 years ago, in a completely unfit state to be used, large sections unfinished," Petkov recalled. 

The Prime Minister also recalled that Bulgaria had unilaterally signed an annex in its contract with Azerbaijan to postpone receiving 70% of Azeri gas until June 30. Talks are currently underway with the Azerbaijani side to agree not to wait until that date, and to receive the gas in late May - early June.

The Prime Minister reassured that by June 30 this year the gas interconnection between Bulgaria and Greece will be physically completed and the country will be able to receive Azeri gas.

The Prime Minister stressed that the situation in Bulgaria was already unstable before gas prices in Europe began to spike and before the war in Ukraine. ''At the time when prices began to increase fourfold, we had a single supplier - Gazprom,'' he noted.

"There is an opportunity to buy quantities from the spot market, in addition to Azeri gas, which will be sufficient for all our consumption for this year," stated Petkov.
"My confirmation is informal so far, but I hope it will be finalized soon. The quantities come mainly from the United States," the Prime Minister explained from the Parliamentary rostrum.

"We did not accept the unilateral cancellation of the contract (with Gazprom on April 27) and for a short period of time we managed to make a strategy for alternative supplies, so that the Bulgarian consumer and business do not worry," Petkov commented on the suspended deliveries.

According to him, in the last decade Bulgaria has failed to achieve real diversification of energy supplies.

''Not only are we currently diversifying gas for Bulgaria, but we may be the answer for the whole region, all the way to Ukraine,'' noted the Prime Minister, pointing out talks on joint purchase of gas from the European Union. 

On Thursday the EC will "open" a working group, which will be permanently based in Sofia. The energy ministers who will come are from Italy, Greece, Romania, Turkey, Serbia, North Macedonia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan, Petkov explained.

He added that Bulgaria is in an advanced stage of negotiations with the United States and Egypt, and expressed hope that the prices of liquefied gas that will be agreed will be such that the overall mix will not be higher than the price of Gazprom.

"I think that in such a short time these are good results," Petkov stressed.

He recalled Gazprom's unacceptable demand that Bulgaria open an account with Gazprombank in rubles to pay a third party. '"Paying a third party does not guarantee that we will see our money back or that we will get our gas'', he argued. "It is not a question of geopolitics, ideology, but of a clear violation of the agreement and wringing hands on a mechanism that allows this approach to continue every month".

''Although Gazprom gave us 24 hours from the notification to the shutdown, the gas supply has not decreased, the price has not spiked, everything is under control'', the Prime Minister concluded.