Official: Bulgaria solves gas issue for year ahead thanks to Azerbaijan

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Bulgaria has solved the issue of gas supplies for the year ahead, Economy and Industry Minister Nikola Stoyanov said, Azernews reports per TASS.

He noted that Bulgaria is provided with blue fuel for the next 12-14 months, adding that prices are clear and business can develop safely.

“The situation with gas supplies is extremely dynamic. Now we have a long-term gas supply agreement with Azerbaijan, as well as agreements for the supply of liquefied and pipe gas,” he added.

“At the gas supply auction that we announced, we expect very competitive prices, so it is possible to say that we have overcome the crisis,” he added.

With the commercial launch of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria, Azerbaijan will export about 600 million cubic meters of gas to Bulgaria by the end of 2022. Bulgarian Energy Minister Rosen Hristov earlier said that negotiations are underway to increase gas supplies from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria, at least for the heating season, for another 200-300 million cubic meters.

The IGB gas pipeline is designed to connect the Greek national gas transmission system (DESFA S.A.) and the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline (TAP AG) in the area of Komotini (Greece), and with the Bulgarian gas transmission system (Bulgartransgaz EAD) in the area of Stara Zagora. The total length of the gas pipeline is 182 km, the diameter of the pipe is 32'', and a design capacity of up to 3 billion m3/year in the direction of Greece-Bulgaria.

The pipeline is designed to increase its capacity up to 5 bcm/y depending on market interest and the capacities of neighboring gas transmission systems.