“No gas? No problem!” – Under this title, the authoritative German economic daily “Handelsblatt” published an article by Gerd Höller about Bulgaria and Russian energy supplies. At the beginning of his analysis, the author paraphrases a well-known German political slogan, which in the case of Bulgaria sounds something like this: “Unbelievable: Russia turned off the gas tap, but no one even noticed.” Hoeler reminds that Gazprom has stopped deliveries to Bulgaria because Bulgargaz refused to pay in rubles, Deutsche Welle writes.
“Bulgaria’s supply is secured”
“But although Bulgaria got 90% of its gas from Russia, the suspension of supplies went unnoticed by both households and industrial consumers. There is no deficit, no regime. Moreover, Bulgargaz’s customers can even hope, that their gas bills will decrease in the future “, the author summarizes and informs his readers about the visit of the Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov to the USA, as a result of which Bulgaria starts importing liquefied gas from the United States. In this regard, the publication quotes Petkov as saying that in the future the price will be lower than that of the first deliveries.
“And so Bulgaria will really save money. Because Gazprom unilaterally terminated the contract, which included the clause that Bulgargaz is obliged to pay 80% of the agreed deliveries, even if it takes less,” the author recalls. According to him, Bulgaria is doing so well with the suspended supplies of Russian gas, mainly for two reasons. First, because the country consumes relatively little gas, which it can get from other suppliers. And secondly, because Bulgaria was prepared for a possible suspension of Russian gas supplies, which were agreed only by the end of 2022.
“But the situation with oil is different.”
Hoeler also wrote that Bulgaria is negotiating with both Greece and Turkey for the future use of liquefied gas terminals and informed in detail about the various projects. At the end of his article, the author summarizes: “Thus, Bulgaria’s gas supply is secured without Russian supplies. In addition, Bulgaria will become a transit country for the supply of non-Russian gas to the entire Balkan region. However, the situation with oil is different. Bulgaria is much more dependent on Russia. “
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