site.btaEmployer Association Calls for Resumption of Russian Gas Supplies

The Association of the Organizations of the Bulgarian Employers (AOBE) on Monday called for a resumption of Russian natural gas supplies to Bulgaria under the existing agreement between Gazprom Export and Bulgargaz.

Gazprom Export halted natural gas supplies to Bulgaria on April 27 amid political tensions related to the war in Ukraine. On July 28, Russian Ambassador in Sofia Eleonora Mitrofanova said gas supplies can be resumed immediately if the Bulgarian authorities agree to pay for them according to Gazprom's requirements. The agreement between Gazprom Export and Bulgargaz is still active.

The AOBE argued in an open letter to the media that changing the currency in which the payments are effected will not make the gas more expensive.

Discussing outgoing Prime Minister Kiril Petkov's statements about seven shiploads of liquefied natural gas (LNG) agreed to be supplied from the United States, the AOBE said that four of the seven shiploads are not to be delivered until next year and have not been confirmed. The three shiploads planned for this year will make up for less than half of the existing shortage of natural gas in Bulgaria, the association said. Besides, Sofia has not booked the necessary capacities for unloading the gas at a sea terminal and transporting it via pipelines to its own gas transmission network.

Even if a way is found for the LNG to reach Bulgaria, it will be 35-40% more expensive than the gas which can be supplied under the agreement with Gazprom Export, the association argued. Adding the penalties under the take-and-pay clause of the agreement with Gazprom Export, the LNG will be three times the price of the Russian gas which Bulgaria is refusing to take, the AOBE said.

It warned that the storage facility at Chiren, Northwestern Bulgaria currently holds the smallest amount of natural gas in the EU.