The Economy minister Nikola Stoyanov confirmed that Bulgaria will eventually stop receiving natural gas from Gazprom. The main objective of the cabinet is to receive the quantities of natural gas under the existing contract, which Gazprom didn’t send as they cut the supplies for not paying them in Rubels.
Stoyanov said, “If we sat down to negotiate a long-term contract with them, that would be a shift toward Russia. The agreement expires on December 31. The question is whether we will contract for these quantities this winter so that we may be even more at ease and, most importantly, there must be a reasonable price”.
Stoyanov also explained that Bulgaria is negotiating with Azerbaijan to obtain natural gas in exchange for electricity. Several meetings with intensive energy companies are in progress to fulfil the gas requirements of Bulgaria in winter, and the storage capacity of Chiren is also extended.
Stoyanov added,” We are having conversations with Bulgaria’s most significant energy producers. EU is also assisting, and we’re expecting to solve the gas problems before the winter arrives. There are still some technical needs that need to be cleared first”.
Gas storage in Europe reached 87%
Entire Europe has struggled with gas crises as Russia stopped supplying gas to Europe for applying sanctions and supporting Ukraine. Recently, Russia closed the NORD pipeline, which caused gas prices to rise by 30%.
In practically all nations, gas compression facilities in Europe are showing a good trend. The gas reserves levels in underground storages of Europe has reached to 87%. In Poland and Denmark, the storage facilities have only emptied by 0.22 and 0.13 percent, respectively. According to GIE data, Portugal (100%), Poland (98.10%), Denmark (94.85%), Sweden (90.81%), and Germany (90.53%) have the most fully stocked gas storage facilities in Europe.
The gas storage facilities that are least filled in Europe are Latvia (52.24%), Hungary (70.77%), Bulgaria (71.64%), and Austria (75.68%).