Bulgaria is planning to kick off an auction for the short-term supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) next week to secure the nation’s energy needs throughout the upcoming heating season, caretaker prime minister Galab Donev said.
As per reports, Donev said on Thursday, “The ministers of finance and energy will put up a plan to balance the finances of public gas supplier Bulgargaz so that the state-owned company is in a place to fulfil the financial costs of all contracted gas deliveries.”
Bulgaria requires around 3 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas on an annual basis, and had earlier obtained the bulk of that part from Gazprom until April, when the Russian company cut off supplies after the former coalition government did not meet its out-of-contact demand for payment in rubles.
Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil & gas company Socar has already agreed to supply Bulgaria with 1 bcm per year through the newly-finished gas link between Bulgaria & Greece, which is about to be commissioned pre to the next heating season.
The interconnector, which has been developed by the ICGB consortium, will also permit the flow of LNG to Bulgaria & the wider SEE region from Greece’s planned terminal at Alexandroupolis, additionally to the existing one at Revithoussa, providing the way for potential future LNG imports from the US, Algeria, Qatar, Egypt and other suppliers.
Azerbaijan has exported almost 160 million cu m of gas to Bulgaria in the first half of 2022 & plans to export a further 600 million cu m by the end of the year, Azerbaijan’s energy ministry has said.
Bulgaria has received LNG deliveries from the United States in June. Before handing power over to the caretaker government earlire this week, the former coalition cabinet had secured an offer for seven LNG tankers, of which three to arrive at Revithoussa by the end of 2022, former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said.