30% increase in the price of gas in the winter months. This is what Energy Minister Rosen Hristov predicted during the broadcast “Hello, Bulgaria”. The reason is that we should use quantities from Chiren’s storage, which were bought at higher prices.
“I hope the price will be below 200 BGN, but the average price will probably be around 200 BGN, which is within the acceptable limit,” he explained.
Meanwhile, within 10 days, Bulgaria must finalize negotiations with Turkey for the supply of natural gas. The conclusion of long-term contracts is expected.
“Bulgaria consumes about 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas annually. 1 billion comes from Azerbaijan, or about 30%. At the moment, we buy everything else from Greece: liquefied and pipelined gas. These are contracts in the short term. We took a big step forward with Turkey in the meeting between Radev and Erdogan. The Bulgarian president managed to negotiate a complete change of their position towards our partnership. This has never been achieved before: use the Turkish liquefied gas terminals. We are dealing for 1 billion cubic meters, which is another 30%. We are talking about a 13-year contract at very advantageous prices. It must be back on ships and liquefied. The next step is delivery of ships. A ten-year auction is underway. Turkey offers us to join their negotiations with some of the world’s largest suppliers. They are negotiating mainly with American companies, and with European companies – Norway,” he spi said the Minister of Energy.
According to him, the interim government tried to keep prices down in October and November because the activity was shocked in August and September.
“The average value is determined by the entire gas mix we have in the country. In the winter months, we start adding from Chiren to the quantities we buy. There, unfortunately, quantities have been inflated and bought dearly in August and September from the previous government. Now we use them and they raise the average price of all the gas we buy. The other component that we can influence more is liquefied gas, which we continue to buy on a monthly basis. That’s what this fight in Brussels for the gas ceiling price. We and 10 other countries negotiated very hard. Our offer was around 150-160 euros. The Netherlands offered 275 euros. After long negotiations, they lowered it to 200, then 188. The regulator checks that the calculation is accurate. I have expectations that we will be able to go below 200. With the acceptance of the ceiling, I hope that the prices on the stock exchange will start to fall”, explained Hristov.
As for the generators donated by Bulgaria to Ukraine, Hristov explained that the situation in Bolgrad is very difficult.
“70% of the population is Bulgarian. We have brought 16 generators to serve public buildings – schools, hospitals. It is not normal in 21st century Europe for such conflicts to be resolved with tanks, with weapons”, added the minister of Energy.
He is a firm believer that the “Lukoil Neftohim” refinery must work if we are to have cheap fuels.
Watch the entire conversation in the video.
